Chapter 28: The Crystal Sword
Saphira and Raya walked down a wide sloping passage-way for ten minutes before the light from the torch began to flicker and die.
Why is the torch going out? I have no problems seeing, but will you? Saphira asked, stopping when the light died entirely.
"I'm afraid this is where I leave you. The magic binds the caves to you, Raya. Since they recognize you. You'll have to make your own light." Wodin's voice could be heard, and Saphira could see him behind her using her excellent night vision. In front of her, she noticed that Raya had pulled her sword from its sheath and was whispering to the blue sword, bidding it to light their way.
When the sword sparked to life, it cast an unearthly blue glow onto the walls of the tunnel. Saphira wasn't afraid, nor did she find the blue glow frightening, but the ghostly blue light reminded her of the were-light at the Agaeti Blodhren Ceremony, and she couldn't help but be cautious of the shining blue sword.
"It's not far, Saphira." Raya said quietly, turning to her. "If I'm right, just a few more minutes in this direction, and we should be there."
What are we getting? Saphira asked, starting to walk again, slowing her pace so she didn't overtake the female Rider, who was significantly shorter and slower than she was. To Saphira's mind, she was walking even slower than she would have, had Eragon been there.
"Two things," Raya spoke quietly, but because it was only the two of them in the tunnel now, Saphira heard her as though Raya were talking into her ear. "My things, and the Lilac blade. Perhaps one or two scrolls, unless you don't mind sitting there while I read?" The dragon shook her head.
I imagine you are like Eragon: you will read quickly, skimming for the information you want. Saphira paused as she passed a large doorway on her left side. What's in here?
"No clue. See that seal, it looks like a large hammer and anvil? That means it belongs to the dwarves, and only the dwarf king can open it." Raya reached for the door, but it was as though a barrier stayed her hand. "See?"
Most intriguing. I fear these tunnels will do my sense of curiosity no good. I wish to know what is behind all these doors. Saphira nudged Raya and they continued walking, passing several doors with the hammer and anvil seal on them.
"Some of them just hold treasure. Precious metal that the dwarves use for their watered steel. I've also heard that there is a small store-house of Filatina here, though I don't think it's much. The elves never really gave that much away, and these mountains are more a source of Iron, then they are gold or silver." Raya spoke to ease her own nerves and Saphira noticed she was walking faster. "It should be here. Yes, there it is." Saphira looked ahead, and saw a much larger doorway with a dragon, claw and wings extended, carved into the door panels. There was a large crack in the dragon.
"That's from where Hrothgar broke the seal. It must be," Raya said, pointing to the crack. She laid her palm flat against the door and it swung slowly open. Saphira peeked her head inside. "I think there is a brazier, on your left." Raya said, pointing in the direction as she held up the crystal sword to look around. Saphira blew a snort of flame, which caught easily in the brazier. The room warmed with the crackling light of the fire and did not look nearly so gloomy.
Is there another? Saphira asked, looking around.
"That there trench, it looks like a wall shelf, but it's a brazier that goes around the room." Raya pointed to it, and Saphira blew a snort of flame, which quickly spread around the whole room, lighting it with a warm red glow.
This room is practically empty. Saphira commented, taking in the sight of the large expanse of floor. There were several trunks on one side, each open to reveal gems, gold, and precious metals. Two trunks were determinedly closed. There was a general weapons rack and a special weapons rack in one corner. Next to that was a standing pole with dull and tarnished armor hanging from it: chain-mail, greaves, chest plates, and a helm with dragon-like spikes going down the back. There was a shield as well. The special weapons rack, Saphira noted, had one large clear crystal sword, and one sparkling light purple blade. The final corner of the room had a desk, with a shelf behind it, filled with scrolls.
"Mind you, the bulk of this space here," Raya pointed to a section of the floor, "Was taken up by the dragon armor. There wasn't supposed to be much down here in the first place. The dragon armor is rare to find in a complete set, because it's just so much metal. And it takes up a lot of room to store." Raya walked over to the human armor in the corner, "This is mine. Though that tarnish will need to go: the White Rider does not wear dingy armor." She murmured over the metal until it began to glow, at which point she left it alone to let the spell finish its work.
What is in those closed trunks, on the far wall? Saphira asked, touching them with her nose. The trunks popped open. One had clothing in it. Cloth? This must be yours.
"That's right. The white robes are the ones for ceremonial occasions. The dark black ones are a second flying suit. And I think there's a super light layer that can go under the armor. And a dress." Raya said, strolling over to look into the trunk. "Yup, see that mass of pink? That would be the dress."
No offense, but you don't strike me as the type of woman to wear an excessive amount of pink. Saphira watched as Raya pulled out the heinous garment. Yup, definitely not your color.
"I didn't pick this dress. Wodin's wife did. I couldn't very well tell the wife of a Grimstborith that I didn't like the outfit she had made, especially for me." Raya grimaced upon looking at the dress. "If it was a little less…frilly, and maybe in blue or green, I wouldn't hate it so much. But it's pink, and makes me look like an overlarge bird." She shuddered again and dropped the dress into the trunk and took out all the other garments.
So, why don't you magically change the dress? Saphira asked, leaning backwards on her haunches as Raya packed up her second flying suit and the ultra-thin garments that went under her armor. And the white garb?
"If you want to change the dress, by all means, do so. As for the white garb, I guess I could take it. But since I won't be using it anytime soon, it stays here. Besides, I don't want Tunivor carrying any more than he needs to." Raya left the soft white cloth in the trunk.
Could you put it on? The white robe? Saphira asked, noticing Raya's look of longing as she packed the trunk to close it. Raya looked at Saphira and nodded.
"Would you like to see me in the dress as well?" Raya said, pulling the white robe from the trunk, slipping out of her normal clothes and slipping the white robes on.
I could do with a laugh. Mind you, if it's really funny I met set the dratted dress on fire. Saphira admired the woman standing before her. Move this way, Saphira nudged the White Rider with her head, shifting her toward the middle of the room, Much better. The white robe was long, and had been taken in to fit Raya's shorter frame. Is that shimmer silver thread? Saphira said, tilting her head to the side.
"It is. I don't know if I should wear this very long." Raya said, running a hand down the soft white fabric.
Could you do a move in it? Something, please. Saphira wanted to see as much of Raya and this room as she could. She may not be able to tell Eragon what she saw, but she could show him. Raya grinned rather goofily, then walked over to the special weapons rack and pulled down the Crystal Sword, wincing a bit as she closed her hands over the hilt. She did a simple cut, thrust, parry and strike, twisted and brought the blade whistling down. The gown was cut and flared in several places. Saphira realized that the garb would be the same, whether the rider was male or female, and it needed to allow Raya the freedom to move. She noted the very high cuts in either side of the dress, which allowed her the utmost freedom of movement, but also bared the powerful legs of the Rider.
"I can't hold the sword very long," Raya said with a grimace, putting it immediately back in its spot on the shelf. "Now to try on the frilly pink wonder." Raya made a face, which made Saphira chuckle.
I apologize beforehand, in case I burn it. Saphira chuckled, as Raya struggled her way into the garment. It really was too frilly, and a most unbecoming shade of pink.
"No! Please, burn the dratted thing. I can say you sneezed and blame you for its demise!" Raya laughed, buttoning the last button on the dress. Saphira took in the sight of her and had a sudden urge to roll onto the floor laughing. She snorted, trying to keep the flame from exploding from her nose. "You are laughing at me! That's it, this dress comes off."
Wait a moment. Look, see, I'm not laughing, Not much anyway. Saphira nudged the dress several times with her nose. There, I think that should do it. The dress had lost a significant number of layers of the frill and poof and lace. It was no longer pink, either. Instead it was a brilliant shade of crimson, which flattered Raya's olive skin far better than the pink. I couldn't make it green, but red will have to do.
"Oh, thank the Gods! Well, now I won't be embarrassed to wear it. Still, I've no occasion for which to put the dratted thing on, so back into the trunk it goes." Raya twirled, admiring the lighter dress, then stripped it off far faster than she had put it on.
About the crystal sword, Saphira started, as Raya closed the trunk. Why couldn't you hold it too long? Saphira nudged the second trunk open. There were several replacement pieces to the armor and a small wooden box in this trunk. And what is in this box?
"My goodness, you're a nosy thing." Raya said, strolling over and picking up the box. She opened it to reveal a round pendant on a medium chain. The pendant was comprised of a stone that looked so remarkably like an opal, Saphira wondered if it was one, for it sparkled in her eyes that a common stone did not. On the back of the necklace was the same seal that was on the door: a dragon with its front claw and wings outstretched. "This is the seal of the Riders. That stone is the only remaining piece of Bid' Daum's egg. When the first Eragon had watched the dragonet hatch, this piece of shell was the reason he touched the baby. And because of it, he formed the first bond to a dragon. He kept it, and it was turned into the Rider's seal during his lifetime. It has been the seal ever since." Raya held out the piece, turning it over in the firelight.
It's old. Older than Il'hen. Saphira said, admiring the piece.
"It should go to Eragon. In fact," Raya closed the box. "Would you like to bring it to him?" Saphira looked at the White Rider.
You mean it? The dragon asked while Raya nodded. Well, then I shall carry it, but you will present it to him.
"I can hold it, but you must give it. It goes from Dragon to Rider. Technically, this belongs to you. Once Vrael passed, it goes to the strongest dragon, who then bequeaths it to his, or her, Rider. That would be you." Raya put the box with her clothing and checked on the armor.
A question. How am I the strongest living dragon? Do not Shruikan and Tunivor, outrank me in size, as well as strength?
"Yes. But you are the female. Males typically don't fight, except for the honor of a female. They aren't very violent, nor are they very strong. But females are. Tunivor is only strong because your presence makes him so, hence you must be the stronger one. And Shruikan doesn't count." Raya's argument made sense to Saphira's dragon sensibilities and she didn't argue the point. If she, Saphira, was the strongest dragon around, she would accept the praise without question.
And the Crystal Sword? Saphira asked, pointing toward it. Raya did not look at the blade. She moved to the rack and pulled the violet sword from its spot, placing it in a lovely cream colored sheath, then wrapping it in a long length of cloth.
"The Lilac Blade is unnamed. I dare not leave it drawn. As for the Crystal Sword: it is the Blade of Truth." Raya touched a finger to the crystal and pulled it back quickly. Raya picked up the lilac sword and placed it with the belongings that were leaving with them.
The Blade of Truth? What does it do? Tell the truth? Or burn the liar? Saphira looked at the crystal sword. How was it made? It is not easy to shape crystal. And why are you taking the Lilac Blade with us? Saphira felt like Eragon; more questions than she thought she'd get answers to.
"I intend to take the Lilac Blade with us, because I believe we will soon find the Rider to match the Blade." Raya said quietly, glancing again nervously at the Crystal Sword.
A Rider can only exist, if they have a dragon. Do we have dragon egg's lying around? Saphira asked, hoping that Raya would tell her, where there was one more hidden egg: the egg she had gone into the caves with.
"There is one with Tunivor, right now. I intend to give her Rider the choice of the Lilac Sword or the Green Blade, Sol'rec. Though I'm rather hoping to keep Sol'rec for the Emerald Egg's Rider." Raya said, the words flying from her mouth, and again Raya looked at the Crystal Sword with some annoyance.
Why are you telling me all this now? We have asked you these questions before? Saphira asked, noticing the annoyed way Raya glared at the Crystal Sword.
"In the presence of the Crystal Sword, I cannot lie to you. My actions cannot lie, nor can my words. It hurt me to wield the crystal sword, for I was not using it correctly. I can only hold the blade when I am truly possessed by the spirit of the White Dragon. Showing you one move, is not the true state of mind for the dance, hence, it hurts my hand to hold it. It buzzes in an awful way, that shakes you to your bones. As for other uses of the blade, it is used in a "Rider's Trial" to deem if a person is telling the truth. They are given the blade, to hold during questioning. Should they lie, it marks them with a painful red welt, as a liar. And it cannot be used in battle. The crystal acts as a filter, making the blade itself very fragile. Should it meet a blow from Il'hen or Dorev, it would shatter." Raya looked away from the sword and went to the desk in the corner, shuffled a few papers around, and opened a drawer. "As for why I didn't tell you, it wasn't the right time."
So it has no real purpose? Saphira did not like the blade: it was useless in battle, and didn't understand why it had been shaped as a sword in the first place. Why not simply bless a crystal rock?
"It might. Some say, it is a way for those who do not know their true name, to find it out. You hold the sword, and when someone asks you what it is, you answer. The problem is, someone else usually hears it. Apart from that, there are only stories associated with it." Raya pulled a scroll from the drawer and opened it on the desk. Her eyes skimmed the document and she picked up a piece of writing charcoal, looked disgusted with the instrument, and looked into the drawer again. "There was a pen here somewhere. Aha! Here it is." She pulled out the pen, along with ink powder and a vial of what smelled like alcohol, mixing the two together. She wrote something on the paper scroll and looked around the room.
What sort of myth's? Asked Saphira, settling down on the floor, while Raya looked at the scroll, here eyes darting from side to side quickly as she read.
"That it can cut through Gods, that it came from Alaleya, and that it can command the armies of the dead." Raya spoke, not really paying attention to Saphira. "There, that's this scroll checked. Now, a blank one." Raya looked in the desk again, pulling out a blank scroll and putting the one she wrote on to the side. She stood looking at the shelf behind her and pulled out a scroll after reading the tabs which identified it.
She sat reading for several minutes and then, writing very carefully, she rewrote two sections of one of the scrolls. After that, she pulled down another large scroll, and skimmed through it. She wrote more casually from this scroll, taking notes and writing far more quickly than she had with the other one. She put the large scroll away and pulled up, from a compartment of the desk, an enormous double ended scroll. Both pegs had several feet of ancient vellum and Raya opened the thing with reverence. The bottom leg of the scroll was blank, and Saphira noticed that the handwriting varied in several places.
"I'm sorry, Saphira. But this will take some time. If you don't mind, I'd rather not be distracted." Saphira recognized this to mean, she shouldn't ask questions. Raya picked up the pen and, choosing her words very carefully, started to write where the last writer left off. Saphira watched as the Rider filled in paragraph after tedious paragraph of information. Twice Raya paused to flex her wrist, to prevent it from cramping as she wrote. Saphira looked around the cave, poking at different objects with her nose. The box of gems lit up like the Aurora Borealis, when Saphira touched it, and she amused herself for a good ten minutes by rearranging the gems and lighting them up again.
When Raya looked like she was finished, she sprinkled powder over the letters to help them set faster and leaned back with a stretch. She then rolled the scroll back upwards, going until she found a specific spot and read quickly. Then rolled the entire thing back up and put it in the desk.
Finished? Saphira asked, putting the gemstones back into their trunk. What were you reading and writing? Saphira settled again in front of Raya.
"The first scroll that I wrote on was a catalog of the cave. There is a note there, in dwarf, saying the year Hrothgar opened the vault, the reason why, and the day he issued that the dragon armor be brought up. I rewrote that into elf. Supposedly, he opened the vault at the request of ex-Dragon-Rider Brom, who suggested searching the Vault in hopes that Vrael had left a dragon egg here. There was none. I then added the items I would be taking out of the vault." Raya stood up and took the blank scroll she had written her personal notes on, and tossed that on top of the pile of belongings that would be brought back above ground.
"That scroll has the last part of the spell to change ones true name. As well as a spell to release a being from dark magics. The second part of my notes relate to the six lessons a teacher must present a student, and several ways in which to instruct a student while 'on the fly.'" Raya went to her armor, found it was done cleaning itself and started to take it off the stand. "The large scroll was a History of the Rider's. Going on what I've read in the dwarf histories, the elf libraries, and what I've learned from Eragon and Master Oromis, I've roughly filled in the last century's worth of information and events. It's a pain, but that scroll has so much information, and it must be kept updated."
That is a pain. The two spells you rewrote, are they to help free Murtagh and Thorn? And I have one last question about the crystal blade, if you don't mind. Saphira crouched lower, as Raya hauled up one bags worth of stuff onto her back.
"Murtagh would be freed by the true name spell. Thorn would, with some effort, be freed alongside Murtagh. But the dark magic's spell is not for them: it is for Shruikan. As to your 'one-last-question' concerning the crystal sword, what is it?" Raya tightened in the bag containing her armor. Then scampered down to pick up the bag with the clothes, sword, and scroll.
You said the Sword is rumored to control the dead. What is the specific myth, and how does it work? Saphira was asking the most appropriate question she possibly could.
"Well, it isn't so much a myth as it is a prophecy. One day, someone will open the Vault of Soul's, which is located God's-only-knows where, and upon opening the souls of the dead would spread across the land, causing chaos and mayhem, unless controlled by the Crystal Sword, wielded by one who is true of heart and spirit." Raya shouldered her own pack and picked up the Lilac blade, belting it to her waist, and lifting Dorev in her free hand.
The Vault of Soul's. That is part of the Rock of Kuthian, correct? Saphira's mind raced: this she would have to tell Eragon. Should she tell Raya that Eragon might just be the one to open the Vault of Soul's with his true name? Perhaps we should bring the Crystal Sword with us?
"The Rock of Kuthian? Why does that name ring a bell? As for taking the blade with us, we could, but I need a reason as to why." Raya walked over to the scroll which catalogued the contents of the cave. She picked up the pen, scraping up the last of the ink.
Because I think it would be useful. And because I believe I know who is meant to use it. Reason enough? Saphira said, choosing her words carefully. Raya looked at Saphira with some hesitation, and she looked at the sword.
"Reason enough for me. But it is in your care, Brightscales. I will not burden Tunivor with its weight." Raya wrote down the Crystal Sword and the reason it was being removed from the cave and then tossed the pen and ink well into the desk. She strode over to the Crystal Sword and speaking only words of truth, she pulled it from the rack and encased it in a solid black sheath, wrapping it carefully in the effort to keep it padded. She then attached the sword to the bags on Saphira's back, securing it so it wouldn't thump or break.
"Alright, let's get out of here. Wodin is probably waiting for us at the tunnel mouth, and Eragon and Tunivor are probably wondering what has happened to us."
Yes, it's high time we get out of here. Saphira moved toward the door, and it opened for them. Raya raised her hand, and the fires smoldered, and died. She then picked up Dorev, and motioned for Saphira to get out first. Can you fix the door?
"Yes," Raya whispered, closing the door behind them, and pressing her palm to the door. "Elhána" she murmured softly, and without any further spell words, the crack in the dragon fixed itself, and the door 'clicked.' Locked.
