Chapter III: Training

It was hell, pure and simple.

The day had started out alright; morning had dawned beautifully and the lack of motion around them had been incredibly comforting. The fact that both Ilia and Luan were afforded a decent night's sleep was incredible, not to mention the fact that they had also gone to bed with bellies full of rich and delicious food for the first time since leaving Ellesmera. The beds were warm and comfortable, quite unlike anything she'd slept in in a long while, and the girl was looking forward to spending the better part of the day in it.

These particular fantasies, however, would not come to pass. Whatever time it was it certainly wasn't midday, for the sun wasn't nearly high enough in the sky. A woman had entered her room, dressed in full armour and even armed with a sword, and she'd made no qualms about the fact that Ilia was to be up in the same manner in the matter of a half hour. At first Ilia was inclined to ignore the woman, but upon being brutally torn from her bed she had no choice. Ilia had decided to hate this woman, whose name she hadn't even gotten. Well, perhaps 'brutally torn' was a bit of an overstatement; the woman had pulled her blankets off and had proceeded to assault her mind with suggestions of getting up 'or else'. No, this was not how she'd imagined this paradise for riders to be.

They were thrown into the thick of things right away. Never had her mind and body suffered so much; she hurt in places that she didn't even know existed. Her arms were tired to the point where she could barely lift the too-heavy sword that had been given to her. Her legs were sore from holding her up and being forced to move, and her body ached all over from the armour that was too tight in some places and too loose in others. It was hot and stuffy, and they'd been offered no water. In effect, this made for some very miserable riders.

Even the dragons had been put through the paces. Each rider and dragon pair was pitted against another, though they would not fight as a team. It was dragon versus dragon and rider versus rider. It did not take long for Ilia to recognise that these others were not using their full strength, but instead finding and prodding at the holes and chinks in their defenses. Ilia was fast and was good with a dagger, but with all this armour and the sword she was slow. She was a half-decent shot with a bow and arrow as well, but none of these conditions had been conducive to any kind of fighting like that. The woman she was fighting was the one from earlier, so at least that made it easier to find the will to fight back. It was the assault on her mind that did her in; it made her so angry that the girl all but exploded. The slight look of surprise on the woman's face did cause Ilia to become a little smug, however she was quickly subdued. It seemed that their session was over, however, for Ilia was on the ground and the other woman had an arm out to help her up.

"You're doing well, don't be so hard on yourself. I am Ailara, and my partner is Brin. He is impressed with your Luan." Despite the beating she'd handed out, this woman spoke kindly and even affectionately. Still, Ilia was one to hold a grudge and she tried to stand on her own. When she could not she gritted her teeth and took the other's hand, but made a show of not liking it.

Ailara simply chuckled lightly. "You are to report to the central training grounds; Eragon is awaiting you there. Savour your journey over, for your real training is about to begin."

There was something in the woman's eyes that she didn't like; a sort of glint of knowing that said she was in for it. She was obviously amused by her oncoming plights and Ilia did not take kindly to that. Without a word she turned away from the woman, limping slightly over to where Luan was waiting for her. He had to help her onto his back but eventually she made it, and then they began the short flight to where the others would be waiting.

They were among the last to arrive, though it seemed that no one was going to be upset about that. Five dragons stood in a line, riders out in front. All of them looked weary; even the elves didn't look overly impressed with having been put through the wringer so early on in the day. It was only Sorren and his young dragon that seemed in any sort of amiable mood; the excitement was just emanating from them. Ilia rolled her eyes; it was annoying simply because she was envious.

What was even more annoying, however, was the look on Eragon's face. He stood in front of them all, strong and fit as ever. He had not just been stretched and pressed in every possible direction, and he had the audacity to look on them all with such arrogance. The dragon behind him appeared to be sleeping, but there was an unmistakable upturning of her scaly lips that had Ilia very suspicious.

"Now that you have had your proper welcoming, we can begin!" Eragon spoke, keeping his voice loud enough for all of them to hear.

Ilia groaned, sticking the point of her sword into the ground and making a show about leaning on it. She might be the only one outwardly showing her protest, but she knew the others were thinking the same thing she was.

Eragon seemed to be amused by this; even Saphira cracked an eye open to watch. "Well, it's a good thing you won't need your swords, then. Saphira and I will be assessing your strength of mind, both alone and with the combined strength of your partners. The defense of the mind, especially as a rider, is a far more important skill than the offense. We hold the secrets of the land and beyond; if anyone were to get a hold of that we would not fare well against an attack. It is for this reason that your mind must be an impenetrable fortress. Once defenses are suitable, then we will move on to how to attack. To start with, you will fend us off on your own. When it appears to be too much then your dragons may step in, and we will see how long you last. Now, imagine a wall surrounding your thoughts, and you must keep me from breaking it down. Begin!"

Everything had grown quiet, and despite not wanting to do this, Ilia found herself with renewed reason to fight back. She had something to prove….no one delved into her mind. Her thoughts and memories were the only things she had left of her home; they were hers and hers alone. Was nothing sacred to these people? Immediately her walls went up, and she focused her gaze on Eragon. The bastard looked rather serene and handsome, standing there as if he had not a care in the world. Being the strongest man alive, she imagined he didn't. Her walls grew thicker; she was determined.

They waited for what seemed an eternity, but suddenly there was another presence. Each of them felt it at the same time, for Eragon was attacking them all at once. At first it was merely a light brushing as if he were reaching out to see that there was in fact something there. A few times this happened, and the final time there was a second consciousness, obviously Saphira. When this backed off, the real assault began.

Ilia didn't know what it was like for the others, but she absolutely hated it. She hated the feeling of someone trying to invade the most intimate part of her being; he was trying to look into her very soul, and she wanted him gone. She stood her ground, and increasingly the presence grew. She held fast, her defenses only growing as his attack became more ferocious. It was a constant exchange, and after a while Ilia didn't notice that the corners of Eragon's mouth had turned downwards slightly in concentration, nor that everyone else was now fending him off with the combined efforts of their dragons.

Finally it was getting too much for her; her wall was beginning to crack. Panic began to flood her body; no. No he couldn't get in. He wasn't allowed there. It was at this point that she felt Luan's mind come behind hers, filling in the cracks and even daring to help her push back. It was one consciousness versus two, and while all the others had been let out of the exercise their battle raged on.

There was the addition of a fourth consciousness, and it was this that changed the course of this battle and won it. It came with such force that it caused Ilia to physically stumble backwards; she'd never been assaulted like this before. At first the combined consciousness of Ilia and Luan managed to hold on, but the intensity only grew and her wall disintegrated as if it were made of sand. It left the both of them open and exposed; her very being was now open for examination. The second the invasion started, however, it instantly stopped. Eragon and Saphira withdrew from her mind, and as they did Luan did also. Ilia was left gasping for breath, sweat having formed on her brow. She didn't realise it, but the rest of her companions were all staring at her; she'd lasted much longer than they had.

"Well, I'd say that's enough for today. Go and get your rest, you will join the rest of us for dinner tonight." Without another word, Eragon climbed onto Saphira's back, and the pair flew off around the hill and out of sight.

Saphira took Eragon passed the hill and down over the plains that bordered the colony that they'd established long ago. Effectively it was a small city, though most of its inhabitants were transient. Some of the riders who were here more permanently had put roots down and even started families; children were still a rarity but not an overly uncommon sight. It was also not uncommon for the child of a rider to be chosen themselves, something which Eragon was a little wary about. If it became common practise he was aware that fear and general suspicion of the Riders among the greater population of Alagaesia could grow, but one could also not deny the riders the opportunity to have families of their own. He himself was the child of a rider, after all. Thankfully, it was still a bit early to have to deal with that problem.

'Interesting pair, those two,' Saphira commented after a short while of flying.

'I've never seen anyone come to us with such strong mental defenses before. From what the reports said, only the elves have had any kind of training and even that has been minimal,' Eragon responded. It was true; as far as he knew, only the elves had had any kind of training and previous affinity for magic at all. So when he'd pushed and found her mind to be at first impenetrable, it had surprised him. He was strong enough to be able to assault each of their minds at the same time; five was actually one of the smallest groups he'd dealt with. Of course, none of them had had this kind of training and none of them had faced one so powerful as he was, so it was quite the surprise when her defenses had not crumbled the instant he pressed, like most of the others had.

'She's the one who stole the dragon egg, remember. To get through the wards of the castle would have been no easy feat. My son would have been waiting quite a long time, had she not decided to do it. She seems rather defiant in general, not just in mind.'

They had been given histories of each of the Riders before they arrived, as per usual. It was never anything too in-depth, generally only including the part of their lives that included the dragons. IN comparison to the start of his own journey, they were rather boring. Eragon had grown up with strife, adventure and danger, having been forced to grow and mature as a man and a Rider much earlier than he would have hoped. It wasn't that he would change anything now; peace was prevalent across the land and dragons and Riders could live and move freely. Some had gone over and now led relatively normal lives, which was what he had intended all along. The Riders they were sending to him had been chosen systematically, through the passing of entire populations by the eggs. It seemed though that they were getting more and more selective about who they were allowing to touch the eggs, which had to change.

'She can't have been born that way; those kinds of defenses don't come through birth, especially not humans. Something's happened to make her that way, and we need to find out what.'

Saphira became amused; he could practically feel her smile from where he was sitting on her back. 'You have become perceptive in your old age, little one.'

Eragon rolled his eyes, 'A mere hundred-and-twenty years is not old by a Rider's standards, nor by a dragon's.'

'A hundred-and-twenty-one.'

Eragon didn't respond, allowing Saphira to enjoy her small victory.

'And you wouldn't have been able to get through without my help. Her mind, I mean.' The dragon was still very much amused by this and wasn't going to let him get away with anything.

'I didn't want to hurt her, she was defensive enough. You saw what was there on the other side.' He could have handled it, what he'd said was true. It would just have taken a lot more force than he had anticipated. Saphira had merely grown impatient and ended the exercise when she'd felt it had gone on long enough.

'Bitterness, and beyond that, great pain. She has suffered much in her short life.'

Eragon nodded; he didn't think anyone had ever come to them so broken before. It meant that she would be the hardest to train, even if her defenses were the highest. It was because her defenses were so high that they had a lot of work to do, for if she didn't have proper control she wouldn't be able to truly defend herself. It was impressive, yes, but she may very well have the hardest road ahead of her. Or maybe it was they who had their jobs cut out for them; one that didn't want to be trained would be very difficult to help indeed.

'Come on, Little One. We should prepare for dinner tonight as it will be the first time our new recruits are introduced to the rest of the riders.'

Eragon had no arguments; they did have to prepare.

While he was soaking in his bath and Saphira was busy preening herself, Eragon allowed himself to think. He thought of a lot of things, of things past and things future. He considered training exercises and how he was going to make sure that each of the riders got the specific training they needed. As per usual he would assign each a mentor, though the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea for him to take on Ilia himself. Usually he didn't like Saphira taking on her own children, but it wasn't a rule and this might prove to be an interesting exception. Saphira was never easy on her initiates, but since this one was her own flesh and blood he imagined that the training would be tougher than ever. Eragon himself hadn't taken on a trainee in a while now; occasionally he did, if he wanted the work or if he saw particular promise that he felt honing himself would be for the better, though generally the ability to oversee all of the training gave him better control over how things turned out.

Eragon sunk his head under the water, having made up his mind. Ilia would become his to train, then, and he had a feeling that this was going to be a challenge like nothing he'd ever had before.