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

Brom and I walked over to Snowfire and stopped.

"I have kept this for you. It is something that I wanted you to have when you were ready for it. It now seems that you are ready for it."

He pulled out something wrapped in cloth. It was about three feet long. I looked at it and thought that it looked familiar. He began to slowly unwrap it and I realized what it was. The first thing that he unwrapped was a blood red ruby with thin strands of black wire wrapped around it to cut it into quarters. The wire continued down to the pommel, slowly wrapping around the silver pommel at about two inch intervals. The hilt was the same silver as the pommel. The sheath was revealed slowly. I watched to see exactly what it looked like. It was black. In the middle, there was a blood red inscription of a crescent moon. It was only after Brom fully unwrapped the sheath that he pulled the sword out of the sheath.

The blade was as black as night with a blood red stripe going down the center. It was about one hand width across. It had a crescent moon shaped, silver inscription in the middle of the blade. The blade was not tarnished by time nor did it have any sign of use.

"This is Nottsvero. It was the sword of one of your predecessors. It is an elven blade. It will not stain or break, nor will it ever dull."

"It is beautiful."

Red-Eye came over and looked at the blade.

It holds power.

Yet, what type of power? I have heard of many types of riders. Was this sword used for good or evil? I would like to know, but I will let Brom tell us in his own way and in his own time.

As it should be. He is wise and knows what he is doing. We should allow him to do as he desires.

"I wish I could accept this, but I don't believe that I am ready for it. You told Eragon that the Riders received their swords when they were finished with their training. I am not yet finished with my training and do not know if I ever will be."

"You are right. Your training is not finished. This is not the time to decline something that you are given. We are in a fight for our lives. This is one thing that will help you stay alive. Take it."

I had no choice. I took the sword and felt it's weight. I felt its balance. I felt how it felt in my hand. The sword weighed less than I thought that it would. It was balanced better than anything that I had ever felt was. My staff was not even as balanced as it was. Not only that, but it seemed that it was made for my hand. I held it out for Red-Eye to look at it.

When Red-Eye touched the sword, it seemed to change. The surface flowed like water, changing from black to red to silver and back to black. I looked at Brom, looked at Red-Eye, and looked at the sword.

"Many things will happen with Red-Eye that you will not know how to take. That is just one example. Now, block the edges and we will see what you have learned."

I blocked the edges of Nottsvero, prepared to attack, and attacked.

Nottsvero seemed very heavy I my hands, but it was not as heavy as I thought. I could not swing it as easily as I swung the sticks and received many welts and bruises from not being able to block fast enough. There were times, though, that I hit Brom. They were not as hard as Eragon would hit, but they still hurt him.

By the time that we were done, we were both hurt and tired. We decided after this that we would stop and relax for the night.

You did good.

I didn't do as well as I had hoped. I still need more practice. I am not as good as Eragon or Brom.

You are not as strong as they are. You are more accurate. You hit with skill and speed, where they hit with power. It will take a long time before you are comparable to Brom. You are already comparable to Eragon, though you quell before him.

I fear that he will injure me more than Brom. Brom may hit hard, but he is much more accurate and does not swing as wildly as Eragon.

Do not fear Eragon. You have the speed to block all of his attacks and the skill to attack back. You can beat him if you try.

If you think so, then it must be. I still fear his attacks. They are wild and powerful.

Red-Eye agreed, but kept saying that I could beat him if I tried. After a little more conversing, we went to sleep, looking forward to the next day's events.

So what do you think. Please R&R