NO DILLYDALLYING LETS GO

Kvikhlan and Lisa flew into the midst of a complete disaster. Narbog was fending off three shades at one time, roaring with rage as they dodged the swipes of his sword, while Alden and Kuldar Solus desperately fought to hold off a screaming banshee of an Eragon, wielding his flaming sword, Brisingr. Alden barely held off his teacher's rapid flurry of blows, ducking and weaving as much as he could strapped to his saddle. "Teacher!" He cried out, ducking under a swipe of Brisingr. "It's me! Alden!" He blocked a side swipe from the flaming sword with his own sword, Celöbra, meaning honor. He locked blades with Eragon, fighting to push the flaming sword away from him, the heat burning against his face.

Lisa quickly merged her mind with Kvikhlan's after a momentary mental block from the dwarf. You go help Narbog, I will distract Eragon. She felt Kvikhlan's urge to argue at being forced to work with the Urgal, but Lisa quickly overruled him. Now is not the time for petty prejudice! If we don't move fast, our teacher is going to murder one of his own pupils, and we will let the only Urgal rider to have ever existed be slain because you refused to overcome your pride! Now GO! Lisa didn't wait for an argument; she and Evarínya left his side and flew to Alden's defense. Alden couldn't overcome his teacher's strength supplemented with his rage. The blade was getting close to his neck, which was bulging from the strain of trying to push against Brisingr. His eyes were closed, almost as if he didn't want to see his own doom approaching.

Lisa didn't think. She didn't have time to. She cut the straps on her saddle and jumped, shouting as she did, "Vindr, iet hrinda fram!" The air behind her pushed against her feet, propelling her forward at an extreme speed. She gave a war cry, pulling out Fyrstr as she did. Eragon stopped and turned towards her, too late. She rammed into him, wrapping her arms around him and dragging him with her. She trapped his arms so that he couldn't attack her, though his sword brushed against her back and she yelped, feeling her flesh seared off. Eragon screamed in rage, fighting against her. It was all she could do to prevent him from breaking free. He exhibited all the signs of a madman short of foaming at the mouth. He screamed, he struggled, and he yelled sentences she couldn't understand. "GERROFF' ME! KILL THEM ALL- TEACH THEM TO- BURN IN FIRE- THE FIRE OF MY SWORD SHALL FELL YOU- GUNTERA SMITE- UNHAND- DIE- UMPH-"

Lisa had propelled them so far that they had flown out of the tornado and into the hard Earth a half mile or so from where it met the ground. They rolled for a few moments, and then they separated, slowing to a stop a few feet from each other. "Teacher!" Lisa cried, quickly getting to her feet. "Regain control of your senses before you kill all of your students!" Eragon jumped to his feet, recalling his sword with a mere thought.

Lisa stopped, her hand on the hilt of her gleaming white sword. This wasn't right. She shouldn't be fighting her teacher; the enemy was still in the tornado. She didn't want to fight Eragon, and in fact, the thought of it frightened her. But she had to hold him off until she could think of how to make him realize what he was doing.

They stared each other down for a few moments, master and pupil. Eragon's eyes weren't his own; they blazed with the fire of fury at being deprived of his prey. They longed to lash out, to destroy anything in their path. And that desire conformed itself to reality.

Eragon struck out at Lisa, swinging with the fury of a man with nothing to lose. She blocked his downwards strike and the rebounding side slash, allowing the blade to slide up her own as she ducked under the blocked strike and stabbing out at Eragon's unprotected back. He knew that she would attempt this, however, and as she slid under his blocked blade he twirled around, striking Lisa's stabbing sword away from his chest. She swung her sword around over her head and feigned a sideward strike, instead pulling the sword in and slashing upwards with the blade. Eragon weaved to his left and hit under her blade as it swung upwards, pushing her sword up and out of reach of the sword stabbing towards her chest. She jumped backwards, bringing her sword back into a defensive position just in time to parry his side strike. The locked blades for a moment, each pushing against each other and seeking to gain the advantage. Lisa's strength was no match for Eragon's, and he pressed over her, pushing down on her. For a moment Lisa noted the irony of the locking of blades; hers, the first rider's sword ever made, and Brisingr, the rider's sword made for the first rider in over a century. She shoved this from her mind however as Eragon beared down on her. She refused to allow her knees to knuckle under the pressure of his blade, but she was not powerful enough to overcome him. She gathered her strength for one last push, and put the palm of her hand against the flat of her blade, shoving out against Eragon's and pushing him backwards off of his feet and landing on his back.

With this momentary respite, Lisa thought quickly. Eragon seemed to have forgotten who she was, or who anyone was for that matter, including himself. He needed a reminder, something stronger than words. A plan shoved its way into her mind, pushing past her emotions of fear and frustration. It was a risky one, but it was the only one she had. She clung to it, and reached out with her mind as far as it would reach, the farthest she had ever pushed it out before, until she found the mind she was looking for. She was not strong enough for words, so she simply pictured what she wanted, hoped that it was sent out clear enough, and returned to her own mind and braced herself.

Eragon bounded up and stared at her, the rage in his eyes without equal. "You cannot stop me," he said, both mentally and physically.

"I know," Lisa replied. "But you need to realize something."

Eragon didn't wait for her to finish. He charged at her, swinging his sword in a wide arch towards her head. Lisa brought up her sword, quickly forcing it around her in a circle and back up again so that her blade was locked under his crossguard. She flicked her blade up, dragging Brisingr out of his hands and into the air. She caught it with her outstretched hand and then shouted, both mentally and physically, "I AM NOT YOUR ENEMY!" She gathered her strength and then stabbed out with her mind, exercising the lessons that Eragon herself taught her. She thought about one thought and one thought alone- when she landed at the island where she would begin her Rider training- and she stabbed out mentally, seeking to gain purchase on Eragon's mind. But her mind hit a wall of completely mind blowing proportions.

Eragon did not exist. The mind that was his, his emotions, his thoughts, the feeling of his mind was completely eradicated. As far as his mind was concerned, not only did he not exist, but he never existed. The only thing that did exist was rage. Pure, unguarded, hatred of everything. It was like trying to attack the air- It was there, and it existed, but you could not strike it, because it was both impenetrable and fluid at the same time. The air parts around the sword in one sense, and yet refuses to be punctured. His rage was something that she had no hope against, and yet she had to try. She instead shifted her focus of her defenses from her first day to every memory of Eragon she had- her knowledge of his history, her memories of his teachings, his smile that instilled confidence in all of his pupils, and his look of pride whenever any of his pupils did something that he approved of, like when Narbog took the blame for his argument with Kvikhlan…

The giant wall of rage that was now Eragon gave, just a little, but enough for her to get a small glimpse of the familiar mind of her teacher- not even a glimpse, a whisper of a thought. It was almost as if he was fighting to get out from behind the wall, as though he still existed, but she was not strong enough, and the wall quickly closed again.

I'm not enough, she thought. I need more thoughts, I need more memories, I need more than just what I know…

And at that moment, three dragons and a Rider roared.

Lisa had contacted Saphira, pleading with her to come as quickly as she could, knowing that she would need her help. She asked her to bring Evarínya, Murtagh and Thorn as well. With their energy, their combined power, and, suddenly as Lisa realized, their more important thoughts, they might be able to remind Eragon of who he was.

None of them spoke. Lisa didn't even stop concentrating or even see them- she had closed her eyes sometime while she was attacking Eragon's mind- but they simply landed and joined their minds with hers.

Suddenly an entire life time and more began passing through her mind, as the others were funneling their thoughts and knowledge of Eragon passed through her. She saw most of Eragon's life- from his early manhood- to the current events taking place, though a few days later she would hardly remember any of it. She saw of a man named Garrow, of a stone found in a hunting trip, of a Mountain Range called the Spine, of a storyteller named Brom, and of a father he never knew. She saw of the evil king Galbatorix, of the meeting of Fírnen, and, to Lisa's embarrassment, his unabashed feelings for Arya. She witnessed many of his bravest moments, many of his lowest points, and many of the stupid things that he's said. She saw his love for his pupils, his pride in their progress, and his thoughts on the future. Before her was laid out the entirety of his life since he found Saphira's egg. In essence, she saw Eragon, and she understood him.

The wall of rage was subsiding, but not in the way they intended. The best way to explain it was that it was… imploding. It was collapsing on itself under the force of their mental onslaught, threatening to kill Eragon in the process. Suddenly, Lisa knew what she had to do.

She closed her mind off from the others and encircled Eragon's mind, cradling it, almost. This was her beloved teacher, and her friend. She would nto let him die.

Her mind seemed to take a hesitant breath, in preparation for what she was about to do.

And she spoke his name. Not his human name, not his birth name, but his true name.

His mind glowed in response, almost as if she had blown a soft breath on a fire. She spoke it again, and said, Don't be angry for what I know, Teacher. I'm sorry. But we need you. You cannot die. If not for our sake, or for the sake of all your friends, then continue to live for the one you love the most. Do it for Arya. There is hope for her- but she needs you. Here she spoke his true name again, and she withdrew from his mind. The others did as well, and she opened her eyes.

Evarínya, Saphira, Thorn, Murtagh and Lisa were all gathered around in a circle around Eragon, who was crouched in the fetal position, his body shaking from head to toe. At first she was not sure if this was the effect of his mind dying, or if he was lost from them all. But suddenly her hearing suddenly came into focus, as if coming out of a tunnel, and she found that Eragon was shaking because he was crying. He cried out in agony, as though he had lost something of incredible value. The sobs racked his body, and the tears poured down his face. Lisa wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. She stood there, waiting for someone to do something, but Murtagh caught her attention and slowly shook his head to keep her from moving.

They stood there for a few minutes, the only sound Eragon's sobs. This struck Lisa as strange for some reason, but she couldn't figure out why.

Suddenly, through the midst of his sobbing, he spoke.

"I should have known they were using her against me. It's the obvious thing to do, and Ótti's too clever not to pass up the chance to get at me. And she knew that Arya wouldn't allow herself to be harmed unless she did it to protect someone else. Her and her stupid sense of unimportance." He laughed bitterly.

He lapsed into silence for a few moments. "I've failed. I let my rage overcome me; I fought with complete reckless abandon, and I almost killed one of my own students. I've failed my pupils, I've failed Alagaësia, and I've failed Arya. I'm a failure. I have no honor left. I lost it when I allowed my feelings to overcome the safety of the next generation of Riders. I don't deserve to be a teacher."

Saphira leaned down and nudged him with her snout. Little one-

"No Saphira! You cannot comfort me- nothing you can say will bring back my honor, will erase what I've done… You can't fix it this time, Saphira." He looked straight into her bright blue eyes, tears covering his face, until he returned his gaze back down to the ground.

Suddenly Lisa realized why the fact that there was no noise was strange- the wind had stopped. She turned around and saw that the sky was falling. Again.

Everything that the sky had picked up was now falling out of the sky. The clouds had stopped swirling instantly, leaving patches of cover here and there. But the majority of the objects held there, suspended in space, as though gravity no longer existed. For a moment, none of them moved, as if they were shocked at their sudden freedom. Suddenly they started darting around, with three larger dots against the black sky moving faster than the rest, sticking together and flying as fast as they could from the main group, outdistancing them for a while. It won't last, she thought to herself.

Lisa thought quickly about Eragon. He had lost control, and he was right. Nothing would fix that. How does one fix a man's pride? She thought for a moment, and then concluded that the answer was you couldn't. Man's pride was something that couldn't be fixed; you couldn't bandage it up and help it to heal with a simple cloth. They couldn't do anything for him. But it can be grown….

Lisa stepped forward, Brisingr still in her hand. It was a good sword, but it was not hers. It was clearly made with Eragon in mind. She sheathed her own sword ad stopped in front of Eragon, Brisingr inches from his face. He didn't look up at her.

Lisa hesitated, and then said, "You feel that you have lost your honor?" She paused. "Then get up and reclaim it." She stabbed Brisingr into the ground in front of him and stepped back.

He didn't look up for a moment, as if he couldn't look at the sword for shame. Slowly he looked up, his eyes seeing the bright blue blade of his sword, and travelling up to the symbol etched into the blade near the hilt, he paused for a moment, familiar light coming back into his eyes. He continued up to the crossguard, and then to the hilt. He stared at it for a good while, as if contemplating whether or not he was worthy. He stared at it but a moment longer before Lisa said, "You may have your faults. You may not be the perfect Rider. You may not be entirely in control of yourself. But you are our Teacher. And we need you."

Eragon looked into her eyes, and she saw that they were full of gratitude. And then came that familiar look. There was a fire in his eyes; it was not a look of rage, or of anger. It was a look of determination.

He stood up and grasped the hilt of Brisingr. He hesitated for a moment, as if worried that the sword would refuse to be held by him. And then he pulled it out of the ground and held it aloft. The sun shone upon the blade, and it glimmered, as though the scale like pattern of the blade was shivering with excitement to be held by its master.

Suddenly Alden's voice filled all of their heads. Lisa! We can't shake them off for much longer! Lisa looked around, and saw that while the three larger objects were outstripping most of the Shades, a large object was keeping up with the. A harsh cry rang out in the distance. Ótti.

Eragon's voice rang out mentally. Keep away from them for just a while longer. We'll be there soon.

Yes Teacher! Came the reply.

"Lisa, get ready. It's time to confront her. And Lisa," he paused. "Thanks. You made me proud." He smiled, and she smiled back.

"Thank you teacher."

She climbed onto Evarínya's back. Don't scare me like that again, Evarínya said. I thought I lost you.

I'll try not to do it again, she promised.

Lisa suddenly felt Saphira's mind pressing against hers, and she opened herself up to her. Thank you for helping Eragon, She said. Well done. She withdrew from Lisa's mind.

Eragon climbed up Saphira's side and sat in her saddle. Isa mumbled a spell under her breath and mended the straps on her saddle and slipped her legs in. Eragon pat Saphira's side. "Let's do this." He looked from Lisa to Murtagh, smiled, and then they all took off, flying towards their final battle.

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