Wings of a Dream:

Chapter 12:

We waited until Eragon had come to, which ended up being a few hours later, making travel impossible, as night was falling.

"Ugh, my head. What happened, I feel like I got kicked by a horse."

I shook my head and looked inside the little house that we had set up as camp.

You are a damned fool using that which you don't fully understand. A lucky fool, but a fool none the less.

"What are you babbling about Fayathon."

Brom leaned forward in the chair he was resting in. "He's talking about magic Eragon. You used it on instinct, without proper knowledge."

Eragon went to sit up, but was quickly pushed back down by Brom.

"Stay there a bit, you may not be fully recovered."

"I used magic? How...?"

"It is one of many traits that are not widely known about Riders. Every one of them has magic, and is more powerful than even the best of magicians, because of their dragons. The magic is born of dragons, and is focused through the Rider."

"So, I can do magic?"

"Yes, with training, what you did could have killed you, but it appears that you are a little harder to die than most."

"What exactly happened?"

You got cornered by two Urgals, I was hoping to get them to fight me so you could flee, so I roared a challenge at them, then you went and blew them up.

It took a second for that to register with him. "Blew them up?"

Yeah, blew them up, they exploded, after you shot them of course, you infused your arrow with power.

"Eragon, what word did you use to do that?"

"Erm, I don't really remember, it's all a blur."

Brisingr. That is the word, I heard it, and this still doesn't add up for me, you shouldn't be able to use magic yet...

"Brom, what's brisingr?"

"Brisingr is the name of fire in the Ancient Language of the Elves."

"It's another way to say 'fire'?"

"Not really, it is the only true way to say fire, it is its real name."

"I'm not sure I follow."

Brom sighed, "I'll explain the best I can. Everything has two names, the common name which is what it is referred to as, and its true name, the one by which its nature is revealed. The true name is what it is, not what we call it. It is in this language that we can command things in, and thus is magic. On an interesting note, one cannot lie in this language either."

"So fire is 'brisingr'. What else can you teach me? What magic do you know? Can you speak the Ancient Language?"

Brom chuckled at the barrage of questions, "It appears that you are feeling better, and to answer your questions: I do know the Ancient Tongue, I will teach you magic, at least what I can, and I will instruct you in the proper uses of magic."

Brom reached down and picked up a single pebble. "Sit up and hold out your hand."

Eragon did so and Brom deposited the stone in his hand. Eragon cocked his head in confusion.

"You will raise this stone out of your hand and keep it in the air for as long as you can. The words that you need are stenir reisa. Translated it means 'stone rise'. Reach within to your magic and use it to perform this task, it will help you judge your strength and manage your power."

Saphira and I watched intently as the young Rider focused and attempted the spell, to no avail. He tried repeatedly with the same result. Brom stopped him after several attempts.

"Eragon, the words by themselves will do nothing, you must find the reservoir of magical energy inside, and release it."

Eragon tried time and again, eventually getting it right and floating the pebble a few inches above his hand. The effort exhausted him, so Brom set up the house to stay in for the night. I curled up in the street in front of the house and Saphira curled up right next to the entrance to the home.

Dawn came early the following morning. I woke up with the sun right in my eyes.

Aw, come on! I just want to sleep.

I ended up covering my eyes with my wings, to try to get back to sleep. I ended up jolting awake when Saphira grabbed my tail in her mouth and drug me away from sleep.

Alright I'm up! Gimme back my tail!

Brom and Eragon were already busy, saddling up the horses, and securing their non-essentials in Saphira's saddle.

Brom pulled out a map, and laid it out on the ground.

"This is the route that we'll be taking." He said while tracing his finger along the map. "We need to get to the Varden quickly, and-"

"Brom, what about the Raz'ac? They killed my uncle and left me homeless. We have to kill them."

"Agreed that they should die Eragon, but we don't know where they are, and you are not strong enough to take them out, not yet."

Eragon's face darkened. "I still have to try"

You know that they are elite agents to the Empire right? They will have immunity to laws and the guards will fight alongside them. The only way to take them down is with a bit of subterfuge. We have to account for their strength and strike when they are not at full power. Knowledge will prove to be their downfall.

Eragon's face lit up a bit, "You mean that you're with me on this, Fayathon?"

Of course, they did try to kill me, after I proved to be to much a hassle to capture. If it hadn't been for Brom I might have ended up losing my leg.

Brom looked up from the map. "Fayathon, I think that you've just set us on the right track against them. I had forgotten about that wound on your leg, it had Sither oil in it. A rare form of an even rarer oil."

Eragon cast a puzzled look at the old Rider. "What are you talking about Brom?"

"Sither oil is used by jewelers to preserve pearls and other items that are damaged over time by the air, but a small alteration in how it is made and it becomes a highly corrosive agent that will eat through anything organic, like scales for instance, but it will simply stay inert on anything inorganic, like a blade."

That's a dangerous little trick that they have, but I fail to see how this is going to lead us to them.

A look of realization dawned on Eragon's face. "Of course, if we can find out who trades in the oil we can find who buys it and where it went!"

"And from that information we can find where they are based at."

Brom looked over the map again and tapped a seaside city. "We'll head here first, the port of Teirm. I have a contact there that may be able to help us track down Sither oil shipments."

That's a ways out of the way Brom.

"I'm aware of that Fayathon, but an opportunity to take out the Raz'ac is too good to pass up. I thought that you had a score to settle with them, right?"

Yeah, I'm just not ecstatic about giving them another chance to knife me with that oil again, it hurt for days even with your aid.

Brom nodded, "Remember though, you'll have the element of surprise this time, and that accounts for something."

I was a little nervous about trying to assault the same things that had almost taken out one of my legs in the span of a single attack, I remembered how much faster they were from me and how quickly I would have been overwhelmed if I hadn't been able to clear the treetops and flee. I shook my head, I had friends now, and that tipped the scales in my favor very easily.

Alright, lets hunt the Raz'ac, then head for the Varden. I guess that we're headed for Teirm then?

"That's the plan. We'll gather what information we can there and form our next move when we have the information that we're looking for."

Brom rolled up the map and tucked it back into his pack. I stood up and stretched, flexing my wings.

Alright, let's get a move on! We're wasting time!

With that I leapt into the air and took off in the general direction of Teirm.

A/N: No I didn't forget the Ra'zac, if anyone was thinking that. Like I said, I'm going to tweak the storyline a bit to work for me. I just hope I do it right. R/R to let me know what you think so far though.