I arrived early that morning, just as Nasuada instructed, to the clearing among tents near the armory. I'd awakened before the sun rose in order to quickly run to the river to bathe (the rest of the Varden could walk around under layers of sweat and dirt for all I cared, I just couldn't stand doing so), went back to the camp to eat breakfast just as the sun was coming over the horizon, and despite the fact that it was still early morning there were dozens of men who had gotten there before me. My quiver, holding both arrows and my bow, was strung across my back and my sword was buckled to the belt at my waist, but seeing all those men sparring together made me feel odd. As if I were somehow inferior to them. The logical part of my mind told me that wasn't true, that most, probably all, of those men had never gone through the strict discipline I had when I was training as a soldier. But still, the feeling persisted, even after seeing many of them fall multiple times during the practice.
I stood awkwardly in the same spot for a while, unable to figure out what it was that I had to be doing. Was I supposed to just go in and start to show my swordsmanship and archery? But if that were so, how would the people watching know who was who, or just what was going on? It would be total, utter chaos. Luckily, just as I was about to decide to go back to my tent and consider what to do from there, one of Nasuada's men spotted me and approached the small plot of land to which I had seemingly been rooted like a tree. He was not quite middle aged, but the stress of the times had added years to his face and created deep creases on his forehead and at the corners of his eyes and mouth. A dark, neatly trimmed beard that was starting to gray obscured part of his face. Still, the dark blue eyes that met mine shone with an almost youthful electricity.
"My name is Aulis, Captain Aulis," he said to me, "and I assume you're a recruit?" I nodded.
"Yes. My name is Tav." He grinned at me.
"Well then, Tav, if you'll follow me, I can observe your…skills," he said the last word as if he found it amusing, like he doubted that I could use a sword and a bow proficiently, or even at all. I took that as a personal challenge, though his voice held a playful ring to it.
With my slightly hurt pride, I followed Aulis around the perimeter of the cleared area. We stopped first at a white line painted in the grass. Standing with the toes of my boots touching the line, I faced a target several yard away. Picking up an arrow from a container on the ground and handing it to me, Aulis instructed me to hit the target. I pulled out my bow from the quiver on my back and slipped a thin packet from the pocket sewn into my breeches. From between the slick pieces of paper that formed the packet I produced an oiled string, which I used to string my bow. I tested it for a short moment, to make sure the bow was limber. Satisfied, I nocked the arrow, pulled back, aimed, and fired. It was dead on, the arrowhead buried in the center of the target. Aulis moved me back several times, telling me to shoot from the farther distances. Each time my arrow it its mark. After that he had someone carry a thick, wooden shield painted with a white circle in the middle and run in front of me. I was to hit the circle, which I did. It was after midday when Aulis finally seemed content with my work and decided that I was able to shoot.
He led me to another place in the area, which still pulsed with men. We came to a man standing alone, and I realized that he had been waiting for us. The large man donned chain mail and a leather cap. At his waist was a sword longer than my entire arm from shoulder to finger tips.
"You say you can fight with a sword, so now prove it. If you can defeat this man, Jarek Arcansson, or at least not lose pathetically to him, you can fight with the Varden. Otherwise, you have some training ahead of you." I was about to respond when the man, Jarek, burst out laughing. I couldn't understand what had been said that caused the outburst, nor did I know why it rendered him unable to speak for several minutes. I glanced at Aulis, who seemed to be as confused as I felt. After a while other people started to look over at us.
Finally, Jarek was able to gasp out speech. "You…want me to…fight…him?" That was followed by a short flare in his laughter. I blushed indignantly, and would have replied sharply had the man not continued. "He is a child! Look, the boy is beardless and thin as a twig. I doubt he could hold a sword, much less fight with one. Captain, please, we have little time for pranks and high jinks. Bring my real opponent." The blood surged in my head at the insult, though I understood where it had come from. Obviously, as a female I was unable to grow a beard. And I was slender, as well as shorter than average (for a boy, at least).
"Why?" I snapped, perhaps unwisely. "Are you afraid of losing to a 'child'? Are you so unconfident in your abilities that you will feign amusement at my appearance to protect yourself?" Then, pent up anger prompted me to add something I'd regret immediately. "A real man would fight! Or have you dressed up in your husband's armor and he in your dress as a game?" Suddenly the laughter stopped. The look on Jarek's face would have frightened away an army of Urgals. I swallowed, wishing that I'd possessed the sense to stop talking before the insult left my mouth. Thinking about it logically, it didn't make much sense for me, a nearing-seventeen-year-old girl, to slight him by calling him a woman.
"Why, you insolent little bastard!" he sputtered at me. Rage turned his face a shade of red-purple from a lack of air. Aulis looked at me, shocked that I'd insulted Jarek. Well, I thought grimly to myself, there's a good chance he'll get to see whether or not I can fight Jarek now. Jarek pulled his massive sword from the sheath threateningly. I froze, still trying to comprehend the enormity of what I had done. However, some obscure god must have smiled on me, because what happened next might have saved my life.
"You are not willing to spar with a child, but you are willing to fight one in a duel?" The voice came from behind Jarek, who whirled around to see the man who spoke. It was a blond haired man with a beard who was separating himself from the rest of the gathered crowd. His clothing was rough but clean, and a strong build told me that he, at some point in his life, had done hard work for an extended amount of time, perhaps as a farmer.
"Stronghammer," Jarek seethed, "stay out of this! This boy here thinks he is a man, so why should I not treat him as one?" Stronghammer? The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't figure out from where.
"You consider him a boy, so perhaps you should reflect on your own childhood to understand him. Are children not often loose-tongued? The Varden cannot afford those within it to fight amongst themselves, so either forget it or save your argument for another day." The way the man spoke, it reminded me of Eragon. Then I remembered why I knew the name Stronghammer. I couldn't remember exactly where I'd heard it first, but I recalled listening to men talking about a fearsome new warrior who called himself that. They'd said his real name was Roran, and that he was the cousin of the Dragon Rider.
Jarek pulled his lips back in a snarl and seemed to be about to say something when Aulis stepped forward. The Captain had regained his composure and gently placed his hand on Jarek's blade to stop him from swinging it. At this Jarek's head snapped to look at Aulis, his face holding a look of betrayal. Roran looked at him calmly.
"Roran is correct. The Varden has enough problems without having to worry over internal squabbles. Anyway, from what I've heard, Tav's had a rough past few days. I'm sure he didn't really mean any disrespect." After my outbreak I'd managed to recover control over my mouth, otherwise I'd have had several responses to Aulis' comment. First of all, I did mean that insult. I was just ashamed that I'd actually said it out loud, and to Jarek's face. Second, I'd had more than a 'rough past few days.' Not to complain, but my entire life had been on the rough side. I learned to deal with it a long time ago, so that wouldn't be a reason to prompt me to do anything, especially insult a man twice my size.
After a few speechless, tense moments, Jarek sheathed his sword. He nodded once to Aulis, and before he stormed away he turned to glare at me. He didn't need to say anything for me to know that I'd made an enemy. As we watched Jarek weave between the crowd of men until he was invisible, I almost signed a breath of relief, but caught myself at the last moment. That would make me appear weak. I was then suddenly aware that both Aulis and Roran were watching me.
"Tav," Aulis began, "what were you thinking? He could probably break your arm like a dry stick. I would've thought you'd be smart enough to know not to pick fights. Things like this cause problems for the Varden. What if we needed to send two people on a mission, and you and Jarek were the only ones suited for it? It wouldn't work, because if you two have some sort of feud going on how can we be sure that you wouldn't kill each other?" I understood what he meant, but that didn't mean I agreed with it. There was no way that I would allow Jarek, or anyone, insult me without some sort of retaliation. I just usually preferred to wait weeks, even months, for that retaliation.
"It won't happen again," I promised him. I wasn't going to apologize for something I wasn't sorry about, and because Aulis seemed nice enough I wasn't going to lie to him, either. He nodded, satisfied with my response.
"But," he continued, "now we need someone else to spar with you." Roran, who hadn't left, I noticed, spoke up.
"I'll do it." Aulis frowned.
"You don't use a sword."
"So? In battle, not every opponent fights with the same weapon. A swordsman is a swordsman, no matter what their enemy wields. And any weapon in the hands of a skilled fighter is just as effective as any other." Slowly, Aulis nodded. He looked at me.
"If you can hold your own, even for a short while, against Roran Stronghammer, then I'll recommend that you be put into the army." Then he glanced at Roran. "As for you, take it easy. Try not to mash up new recruits." Roran grinned, but my face remained stony. What made them think that I would lose so easily?
I unsheathed my sword as Roran pulled his war hammer from his belt. Aulis stepped aside as we began to circle each other. We did that for a few moments, each of us observing how the other moved. From my limited experience with hammers, I knew that my best chance was to avoid being hit at all. Unlike with another sword, I had to remember not to block his blows with my blade, or it might break or become damaged in some way. Suddenly, Roran rushed at me. I dodged him nimbly, but I had a feeling that he wasn't attempting to come into contact with me. For now.
We exchanged blows for nearly fifteen minutes, and gradually we gained both speed and intensity. Sometimes it seemed as if he would come out on top, and at others I appeared to be winning. Then I noticed he had a slight hesitation, so slight that I probably would not have caught it if I hadn't been trained to look for things like that. When it came around again, I struck swiftly. Our mock battle became much faster and more desperate. Then the crowd that had gathered around us gasped collectively when we stopped, the tip of my sword touching Roran's throat. Roran and I both grinned as we lowered our weapons. Aulis walked over to me, a surprised but pleased expression on his face.
"You keep doing the unexpected today, Tav. I think you'll make a fine soldier," he said. I smiled at his praise. "A messenger will come to you sometime tomorrow and give you the information you need." I nodded, invigorated by his praise. Roran clapped me on the shoulder before walking towards the armory.
I looked at the sky to determine the time and realized that not much time had passed. Unsure of what to do, I wandered in a random direction. After walking for a while, I felt someone's eyes on the back of my neck. I stopped and whipped around to see who was looking at me. There were a few people milling about, but none of them seemed interested in what I was doing. Then I noticed a strange looking cat in the middle of the path between the tents. It sat eerily still, it's bright eyes focused on me. Abruptly, it stood up and darted away. Feeling somewhat disturbed, I turned and continued on my path.
I passed by a narrow alley between the backs of tents and noticed someone standing at the end. I backtracked and looked to see who was there. Eragon. He had a strange expression and motioned for me to follow him. Then he went down another alley. I dashed after him, intrigued. What could the Dragon Rider want from me?
Author's notes:
Thank you again for reading this far!
I'd like to address the scene where Tav and Roran were fighting. I don't know many technical terms, so I can't write detailed fight scenes. Don't yell at me, please :(
Reviews? Pretty please?
(And just in case nobody realized it, I don't own the Inheritence Cycle or anything from the books. Just Tav, Aulis, Jarek, and any other original characters)
