Disclaimer: I don't own any of CP's characters, only mine.

Daret was on the river a few days ride away from Yazuac. We learned much about magic and gained abilities with the sword in this time. My ribs fully healed.

Before entering Daret, we had Red-Eye and Saphira hide. They hid closer to town this time.

We rode into town, keeping alert for anything out of the ordinary. The town was abnormally silent. There were footprints of small children, but there was no other sign of them anywhere. We continued to ride through Daret, keeping as quiet as we could.

In the center of Daret, which was empty, Brom spoke up.

"Let's get out of here. I don't like the feel of this."

He turned Snowfire around and urged him into a gallop. Eragon and I both turned and urged our horses after him. Before we got halfway through town, a group of wagons toppled out from behind houses, blocking our way. A man jumped over the wagons and stood at the juncture of the two. He was wearing a sword at his side and held a drawn bow in his hands. Eragon immediately pointed his bow at the man. He then spoke to us, commanding us to lower our weapons and informing us of our situation. As soon as he said something about the sixty archers placed on the roofs, they stood up.

Brom and the man struck up a conversation. In it, I found out that he would allow us to go if we allowed one of his archers to bring us our provisions, his name was Trevor, and, at one time, he was in the empire's army. We also informed him of what we found in Yazuac and Brom told him that they should leave the area. Trevor declined saying that the villagers would have nothing of it. "We have repulsed individual Urgals, and that has given the townspeople a confidence far beyond their abilities," he continued, "I fear that we will all wake up one morning with our throats slashed."

The archer that had gone to get the provisions returned, set the goods by the horses, received the payment required, and left.

Brom found a pair of gloves for Eragon and a pair for me. We both put them on, testing the flexibility and the condition of the gloves. Mine were in excellent condition, though worn with age and use. We filled our saddlebags with the provisions we received and prepared to leave.

Before leaving, Trevor accosted us. "When you enter Dras-Leona, would you do us this favor? Alert the empire to our plight and that of the other towns. If word hasn't reached the king by now, it's cause for worry. And if it has, but he has chosen to do nothing, that too is cause for worry."

Brom agreed and we left Daret, though the archers followed us out of town. After we traveled a distance from Daret, we again began to converse. We talked about the empire, the presence of Urgals, and what we did while in town. We came upon something new. Eragon and I learned that we could see into other people's minds. We also learned that we could block others from getting into our minds. Before Brom could begin teaching us this, we reached Saphira and Red-Eye.

As soon as we reached Saphira, she extended her head towards us. This was not a nice greeting though. She looked upset, focusing fully on Eragon. She hissed at him. Eragon looked over at Brom and then back to Saphira. He seemed to talk to her and then got off Cadoc. As soon as his feet hit the ground, Saphira swept them out from under him. She pinned him to the ground and then looked at him at eye level. They began talking. While they were talking, I started to talk with Red-Eye.

What's her problem?

He is always getting in trouble when she is away from him. Also, he has not yet ridden her. She wants him to ride her tomorrow. She said it is either that or she will carry him.

Sounds like fun. I believe he is afraid to ride her.

After the scalding he's going to get, I would be too.

Yeah. Wait! Is that humor? From a Dragon?

Judging from his happiness and the chuckle on his breath, it was. Just now, Eragon told us what was going on.

"She wants me to ride her tomorrow."

Brom answered him almost immediately. "Well, you have the saddle. I suppose that if the two of you stay out of sight, it won't be a problem."

Eventually, Saphira let Eragon up. She took off and Eragon watched her go. We then followed Brom for a little while before making camp.

Normally, Eragon and I would duel after we both dueled with Brom. For some reason though, he wanted us to duel first. As usual, Eragon won the duel. Brom then told us that that was how we were going to decide who was going to duel him. He had me start.

We started in our normal stance. He attacked first, swinging at my ribs. I blocked his attack and attacked. I went from a stab to a swing, sliding down Brom's sword and hitting him in the hand. I continued forward until I hit his chest. That was one of the first times that I had ever hit Brom.

We continued as long as Brom wanted to. He then switched to Eragon. During their duel, Eragon swung hard enough to shatter the two sticks. Brom threw his piece into the fire and surprised us by saying that we use swords.

Eragon immediately protested, saying, "We'll cut each other to ribbons."

Brom countered with, "Not so. Again you forget magic."

He held up his sword and began to concentrate. I immediately felt the magic in the air. I prepared for anything and watched Brom. Soon enough, he came out of his reverie, saying "Geuloth du knifr." As we watched, a small spark jumped between his fingers and he ran it down the edge of the blade. He did the same thing to the other side.

As soon as he was done, he allowed the spark to vanish by taking his hand off the sword and then flipped his hand over and sliced across it. When we looked, there was nothing wrong with his hand. Eragon was stunned, but I was surprised that he had scared me for a moment.

He taught us how to do the same thing: how to pronounce the words and how to use it. Eragon and I both used Zar'roc to practice. We added and removed the protection many times from Zar'roc. When he thought that we would be ready, Brom haad us leave the block on Zar'roc and had Eragon begin the dueling.

After receiving many hits and obviously hurting himself, Eragon quit. Brom allowed this and looked at me. He surprised me by telling me: "Come here. I think it is time that you receive this."

HAHAHAHAHAHA

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