Chapter 3

Only today and tomorrow. :'(

'Let me see your palms,' Du Ebrithil ordered.

Eragon held them out and his new teacher began examining them. This was exactly the same thing Oromis had done with him on their first encounter.

'You've had a hard life. Many obstacles have barred you in your journey to success. You have plentiful experience with a sword, but not near enough. You also had a target. I can't see what it was, but it was hard. Very hard but you succeeded nevertheless. There is also someone that you wished to be with for a long time. Your heart yearned for her, but you only found your way into her heart quite recently. I can't see it very well, but I think it was Arya Dröttning of the elves. A lot of the elves envy you, but don't dare to approach you,' he said while Eragon blushed. 'You have also brought someone with you. I cannot see him but you can. There is also a gem in your chest. It is the reason you were not wounded by the shuriken I threw at you.'
He paused for a while but exclaimed in surprise a few moments later.

Oromis suddenly piped in. 'Quite accurate. I must say I wouldn't have been able to derive all of that from just your hands.'

'Ah! This is interesting. You've come across someone called Eragon right?' he asked.

'Yes. Why? Do you know him?'

Du Ebrithil replied in a dark and mournful voice. 'Worse. I had the burden of teaching him. He was a good student. He was also a Shadeslayer. I help him thrust a blade through the very core of his first shade. He was the one who gave me the name Du Ebrithil. One day he thought he could best me in a duel, but he was drunk. He tried his very hardest, but I left a scar on him which should have seen him dead. I drank that night too, but my father's spell doesn't allow the drink to cloud my judgement. I never saw him after that day. According to your hands, he manipulated the clouds to send forth lightning upon you. I have no idea how he managed to do that, but the only person other than him that can do that is Gilderien the Wise. I personally witnessed it happening… now then! You came to me to learn. You have a little less than two years to become stronger than what I myself have created out of that fiend. I will use the next few months, but then you will need to come with me to someone else to complete your training.'

'Yes Ebrithil,' Eragon replied.

'Prepare yourself!' he shouted suddenly. He looked at Hero and nodded. Hero stood up and drew his sword. Du Ebrithil then walked over to a stone and seated himself.

Eragon drew Brisingr in preparation for a duel. Hero charged at him and did the same disarming move Du Ebrithil had done on him the day before. Eragon tried to parry it, but his sword became locked at the handguard and slipped from his grip. Saphira looked away in shame. He had been disarmed in the same way twice in a row.

'Fool! Jump backwards! It is easy enough to escape! You cannot attempt to block or parry a move that I myself made up. Try again!'

Eragon picked up Brisingr and prepared for another assault. Hero attempted to disarm him again and Eragon jumped backwards. Thinking the exercise was over, he let his guard down. Hero straightened himself and leaped at Eragon again, landed a square punch on his nose. He didn't feel any pain, but knew exactly how it must look. Hero volleyed the punch with a knee to the stomach but was a tad bit too slow. Eragon wheeled to his left, causing Hero to lose his footing. He then swung Brisingr in an arc and stopped it an inch away from Hero's nape.

'Good. Very good. You recovered from your slip up well. Now let's see how you stack up against him in a proper duel against him.'

Eragon knelt on the ground and patted his hand on the ground to gather the dust. He needed a firm grip on his sword. He faced his opponent and took a fighting stance. Hero feinted a strike to the left and fooled Eragon enough to make a quick change of direction to his right. Seeing his mistake, Eragon rolled over to his left in an attempt to evade the new swipe. Hero turned towards him and jabbed directly at his thigh. Eragon countered it with a low parry and spun around. Using the momentum, he elbowed the boy just below the neck. His left side was unguarded and Hero counteracted with a strike on his ribcage. The strike was painless and Eragon didn't need to recoil in any way. He spun again and elbowed him on the other side, causing a gap in his opponent's guard. He hacked at Hero's abdomen, but missed. He didn't give up. He volleyed the strike with a punch to Hero's face. He stumbled backwards and Eragon swung sideways towards his neck.

'Dead,' he said. He hadn't noticed, but he was panting.

'Well done.' Oromis complimented. Took you longer than I expected, but I guess it wasn't as easy as it looked. He is Du Ebrithil's student after all.'

Eragon smiled at the praise. Du Ebrithil walked over to the two of them. Healing Hero, he drew his own sword. He blocked it with magic and pointed it at Eragon.

'I now challenge you to a battle.' Eragon started to block his blade, but didn't get a chance to do a few inches before Du Ebrithil jumped at him. Eragon quickly pulled his guard up and parried the blow. Du Ebrithil volleyed a quick series of fast strikes, causing Eragon to stumble backwards after every few blows. He was working as hard as he could to block every strike in time. He had never faced anyone so fast in a duel before. The Mystery Master was a human. How he was so fast puzzled Eragon to the core. Eventually, one of Du Ebrithil's attacks were too fast for Eragon to cope with and the sword hit him on his right arm. He felt no pain, but heard a bone break. It would take a while for his arm to repair and come back to him. Du Ebrithil didn't stop his ruthless assault though. He continued until his entire left arm was hacked off and replaced.

'Eragon!' Oromis called. 'Switch to your left arm. It's faster and won't be as easy to get rid of again.

Eragon did as his master told him and switched to Oromis's hand. The sword felt lighter and he could swing it faster. Oromis had probably been a better swordsman and thus, allowing his new arm to spar like Oromis when he had been alive. With his skill increased, Eragon actually had a chance at landing blows of his own, although they were all parried. They continued like this for hours until nearly every part of his original body was bruised and had been replaced by Oromis. After his right arm had been hacked off by the blocked blade, he had switched back to it, and had even landed a few successful blows on The Mystery Master. The sun set after what had been an entire day of brutal sword training. Du Ebrithil sheathed his blade and patted Eragon on the back.

'Well done. It seems as though your master's body is faster and stronger than your own,' he said.

'I know. I'm not a full elf. Only a hybrid. The dragons did something to me at a celebration with the elves and now I'm more elf than human. He however, is a born elf.'

'Hmm… well, I managed to increase your strength and speed for today. Tomorrow we will look at different weapons you can use in combat and work on practicing with a target. I will also need to work on your precision. Probably make you stand under a waterfall and make you do the exercise the elves call the Rimgar. In fact, after seeing your skill with a blade today, I think we will be done much quicker than I originally prescribed.'

'Yes Ebrithil,' he answered promptly.

'Good.'

'For now, we will find a cave and spend the night under its shelter. As for Saphira, she can do what she wants. I will not be able to teach her anything. She is a dragon and I am a human. Not a dragon Rider.' He pulled his hood down on his face even lower and started walking towards a small mountain north of their current location. They walked silently in the darkness until they found a cave. Hero lit a fire while Du Ebrithil went hunting. Saphira went hunting as well, challenging him to catch the most prey. Eragon laid back on the solid ground and closed his eyes. He thought about Arya and the softness of her skin on his chest. He also thought about the gentleness of his bed in Du Weldenvarden. A sudden pang of homesickness roiled in his stomach. He heard Hero come and sit down next to him.

'You fight well,' he said. 'I haven't witnessed anyone who can stand in a fight against Ebrithil for as long as you did today. In fact, I think I saw a few of your blows make contact with his body. That's quite impressive to say the least.'

Eragon sat up before replying. 'I don't think he was giving it his all. Do you?'

'No. No he wasn't. The only time he actually fights hard is when he is fighting for his life.'

'How old are you Hero?' Eragon asked curiously.

'Seventeen. People may say that I am a man, but I don't even feel like an infant when compared to the man I travel with. He has hundreds of years of experience. I don't even have a quarter of that.'

Eragon chuckled. 'I'm quite sure you've been through more than what most youngsters your age have experienced.'

Suddenly, the whizzing sound of an arrow broke the crackling pattern of the fire and embedded itself in Eragon's right arm. Another rooted itself in Hero's forehead along with one in the boy's chest.

'Hero!' Eragon screamed.

This may be the last chapter for a week. I need to prepare my things for school and I may not have time to write another chapter. Even if I do, it won't be as long as long as they usually are.

Anyway, leave a review and inform me of any grammar mistakes.

Bye!