Kvetha Fricai!
So the reason I haven't updated in SO long is because my dad forgot to pay the phone bill so both the phone and the internet got CUT OFF!!
But it is okay now. :) I have my precious internet back. *strokes modem*

Now, enough of my weirdness and on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Inheritance Cycle, they belong to CP. I do not own any characters other than those who I made.

Chapter 11 – I Need A Break

Linah could feel a friendship already beginning to form. Joshua was just so friendly and she found it easy to converse with him. Her whole body warmed instantly.
I have a new friend!

"Are you sure you won't be lonely?" Linah asked as she tied her pack onto one of Zadac's back-spikes. "I'm sure you could fit through the trees if you tried."

I promise I will be fine. But you must promise me you will not hurt yourself.
He nudged Linah when she did not reply.

"Okay. But even if I do fall and hurt myself, Joshua can heal me." Linah smiled and ran off to where Joshua stood by the trees.
"Are we ready to go?" She asked excitedly when she saw he had finished fastening his pack to his back.

"Almost." He knelt down and started looking around the ground for something. "This one is reasonable size." Joshua muttered as he straightened back up.

Linah stood there just watching Joshua. Her pure joy of having someone to talk to who wanted to talk to her was too much, she was unable to stand still – she was all but jumping up and down with excitement.
Although she was unable to stand still she remained quiet and waited for Joshua to reveal what he had picked up off the ground.

"Here." Linah looked down expecting him to have given her something important, but all it was was a pebble. She looked up at him confused.
Joshua also held a pebble in his hand. He smiled down at Linah before concentrating on the rock in his hand. "Stenr reisa!"

Linah watched in awe as the rock rose into the air and stayed hovering there.
Joshua let it fall back into his hand before dropping it on the ground by his foot.
"Can I try?" Linah asked as soon as Joshua started toward the forest.

"Of course. You can't really learn magic without using it. Just make sure not to exert too much energy on the pebble, we have a long walk ahead of us." Joshua once again started walking while Linah stood there simply dazed.

She stared down at the stone and concentrated on nothing else but it.
"Stenr reisa!" She commanded but it didn't rise into the air like Joshua's had, instead it just shook in the air a centimetre off her palm before dropping back down again.
Magic might take me a little while. She thought before jogging to catch up to Joshua.

EPOV
Eragon stood in the centre of the camp staring up at the sky where Saphira was trying to hide. She was behind a cloud; it might have worked if not for her scales which reflected the sun's rays making the cloud she was hiding behind turn blue.

I will not act as a scout! Saphira yelled at Eragon using their minds. Eragon cringed because it was so loud in his head.

Please Saphira; it will give us something to do until the Varden get more weapons. And I know you hate it but please. Think of it this way if you must, we might be able to stop many people from killing the people we care about.

Saphira thought about it for a moment, leaving Eragon staring up at the sky.
But you might get hurt little one. What if Murtagh and Thorn show up?

That's a risk I am willing to take to keep the ones I love safe. And I'm pretty sure you would never let me get hurt.
Eragon laughed as he felt Saphira's smugness.
Now come and get me so we can get this task done with already.

Saphira spiralled downwards toward Eragon, pulling up just in time causing a tent close-by to fall in on itself.
He clambered on and she flew him back to their tent to get his belongings they would need.

JPOV
Linah had continued to try and lift the rock.
Joshua still couldn't understand why she couldn't do it easily.
He was still so bewildered. Ever since he had seen her in his camp his entire mind had been clouded up with nothing else but confusion.

He had caught his dinner and was dragging it back to his camp, whistling because of his good mood. He could see his camp through the trees and nothing looked a miss until something big moved by his tent. He remembered walking closer to see a hooded figure just sitting there. He had just been about to throw the spear he held when the wind knocked off the persons hood exposing their face.
Joshua had thought it was an elf. She did after all have all the facial features of an elf – except for the eyes.
He had lowered his weapon immediately and set about getting to know the elf under the impression she could perhaps help him in his studies of magic and elves.
Upon speaking the words to greet an elf, he had become confused when she didn't reply.
That was until she told him she didn't understand what he had said – and in plain English too!
He had felt his mouth form an 'O' but couldn't stop it.
The person – who wasn't an elf but looked it – stood up to leave but fell back down and landed hard on her wrist.
Joshua had seen her hold her wrist and while she was doing that he noticed her boot wasn't on her foot properly.
She had refused his help when he offered saying 'her ride was on his way'. He had moved to help her up when a roar echoed through the whole forest. He felt someone or something intrude into his mind but he couldn't stop them.
A dragon burst through the trees and Joshua couldn't decide whether to yell in delight or to yell in fear.

Ever since then they had stuck together – even though Joshua was dead scared of Zadac.

LPOV
It had been days since Joshua had first given her the small rock to make float in the air.
So far she had been progressing slowly. The rock was finally flying a good foot in the air off her hand but still shook like a kid without blankets on a cold winter's night.
"This is never going to work." She sighed throwing the rock against a tree.

"It will, you just have to work harder. Try closing your eyes and just sitting there searching your mind for the magic needed."
Linah huffed and sat down on a large boulder. Joshua sat opposite her while Zadac descended through the trees to be with them.

You can do it child. Just search around your mind. I know you are powerful, I can feel it in my bones.
Zadac nudged Linah causing her to slide off the rock.
Sorry, I forget you are not as balanced as others.

Linah laughed and sat back up on the boulder. Once she was seated Joshua threw her another pebble he had picked up.
She sighed again and closed her eyes.
Behind her lids everything seemed so different. She was used to the constant greens and browns of the forests with the occasional bit of colour for every bird in the tree that was visible. But now, with her eyes closed all she could see was the red of the blood in her eyelids. She looked down making the red to turn to black and while doing so she felt Zadac being blocked from her mind.
She concentrated on nothing but finding the power inside herself to lift the rock properly.

At first there was nothing but memories, feelings and thoughts. Then just as Linah was about to give up she found something inside herself. It was like a barrier stood around it but it only took one good jab at it for the entire feeling to spread over her body.

Linah opened her eyes and saw her palm was shining.
"Stenr reisa." The stone instantly rose into the air and stopped right in front of her eyes. It didn't wobble or shake at all, it remained perfectly still.

Joshua laughed when he saw the astonished look on Linah's face. "See, I told you! You can do it; you just have work for it." He laughed again and stood up off the rock.
Linah followed him letting the stone to fall back into her hand.

You did it! I knew you could child. Zadac's head bopped up and down with happiness that Linah had finally figured out how to use magic properly.

"Well done. Now we must practice your ability to guard your mind." Joshua said as he gathered wood for a fire. "I will attempt to enter your mind and you must block me. Think of something and concentrate on nothing but that. For example if I tried to enter your mind and you thought of nothing but the pebble then that is all I would see."

It all sounded confusing to Linah and felt like Joshua was moving too quickly through her training. To her it felt like a speeding horse racing through and you only had a certain amount of time to grab him and hoist yourself on.

"Joshua, can we just take a break from all this training? I don't mean to sound ungrateful that you are doing this for me but, I think we are moving too quick. I need time to relax and I haven't actually been able to go flying with Zadac for so long." She didn't particularly feel like going flying because she would only end up with injured legs again, but she needed a reason to stop so she might be able to relax and get her mind in order again.
"I mean, I could fly with Zadac to find water so we can clean our clothes. After that we could resume training." Her whole body felt like it was screaming the opposite of what she was saying.
Her legs didn't want to endure that much pain again, her head and bones were telling her that they wanted to continue learning. But despite it all, Linah needed time to unwind. She had been so used to just lazing around before, to go from that to training every second of every minute of every waking hour of every day... it was too much.

"Okay." Joshua half whispered. "But I think you should use this as a cushion for riding Zadac. After what he just showed me, I don't want you to endure that pain again." He held out is cloak for Linah as he spoke.
"I'll stay here so you don't lose me." He laughed and threw the cloak into Linah's arms after she didn't take it from his hands. "Now go and find that river or whatever it might be you find!"

* * *

I still don't see why we couldn't go see the ocean... I mean it was right there. And it is water; we could have swum in it. Sure we can't drink from it but we could have cleaned up a bit.
Linah complained after she and Zadac had alerted Joshua of both the ocean and a small stream they had found.
It is completely idiotic is what it is! I would suggest we could leave Joshua but then what kind of a person would I be then? He is one of the first people who talked to me and wanted to do it. Not to mention he enjoys my company and I enjoy his.

Do not forget the fact you still have much to learn from him child. He is stronger than you and has helped thus far. On another note, he is the only person we have to take us to the Varden. We need him, and he needs us.

He needs us? Linah stared at the back of Zadac's head as he continued to climb higher so they would be covered by the clouds.

Indeed. I believe when we stumbled across his camp he was just days away from becoming mad from the isolation. Child, you must think, how long has Joshua been in these woods with no one to talk to? How long has he endured pure solitude? And you might argue that there are people who do not need the company of others, but I assure you, from what I have seen from inside Joshua's mind, he is very much a social person.

Linah sat there dumbfounded at Zadac's words. She looked back to see Joshua holding on tight to the spike behind Linah.
They hadn't verbally spoken a word since Zadac had picked up Joshua and they had taken off.
Now that Linah thought about it, Joshua had been terrified when she had told him that he would need to ride Zadac. She refocused on the present, noticing that they were now level. She looked back directly at Joshua's face.
His face was paler than her own, his eyes were clenched shut and his face was all scrunched up in concentration. And his knuckles where even whiter than his face because of how hard he was holding on.
She started to feel sorry for him. Here he was, looking like a ghost, holding onto Zadac's spike so tight that it was a miracle his fingers hadn't cramped up or Zadac's spike be shattered under his grip.
And then there she was. Linah was holding on lightly with only one hand looking backwards at Joshua. There was no sign to show she was having trouble holding on or she was scared that she was about to fly off backwards, perhaps because she trusted Zadac more than she trusted her own two feet.

Linah hold on tight, I am about to start my descent.
She turned back around and grasped hold of the spike in front of her tight. Zadac repeated his message except to Joshua who simply whimpered in response.
She could hear an odd rumbling from Zadac which she realized was laughter.
Is it just me, or is his fear amusing?

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter that has taken FAR too long to get on the net for all to read.
I will be uploading the next two chapters immediately seeing as they are both complete.

Make sure you review before continuing onto chapter 12 and 13!

Sé onr sverdar sitja hvass!