Chapter XIV: Effort

The following day it seemed that Ilia's training session with Eragon was, again, postponed. Normally she wasn't too bothered by that -at least, she always told herself she wasn't- but after the conversation with Ailara and the one that followed with Luan she found herself disappointed. And then Ilia felt silly, because she had very much resolved not to do anything about it. It was a crush, a frustrating one, but she would survive it. It made it worse that the reason it was cancelled was entirely valid, and she felt bad for being disappointed

During breakfast the general mood was sombre. Eragon was not there, and neither were most of the healers. Blödhgarm did make a brief appearance, but only to get food for someone else. The word was that both Sorren and Arin had made it through the night, but that Thorn's wounds were worse than they had first thought. All would make it through, but it was not going to be without scars.

By the afternoon Eragon had finished conferring with Murtagh, Thorn, Sorren and Arin. There had been another meeting, and then all the riders were called into the council room. It was the first time that all of them were together.

Ilia stood between Narqa and Ailara, though the general sense around the room was one of unease. When they were all gathered like this the number of riders seemed far less than she generally thought; it seemed that most people here had a dragon counterpart, but the number in this room did not represent the general population at all. There were perhaps twenty of them in total, though she did know that there were more in Alagaesia, plus the six that were on their way there now. From what she understood there were twenty-six new riders initially, but as they explored the parts of the land that had been under Galbatorix rule they had discovered a need for more

Some of the riders here would be sent to the eastern parts of the continent; Eragon had asked her to consider who might be best. Of course, they had to want to go as well; it seemed that Eragon was not in the business of forcing anyone. After hearing a little more about what Galbatorix had done and how he'd gained his control, Ilia was not really that surprised. Ailara had once told her that it was, perhaps, Eragon's only weakness; he did not wish to become anything like the former king and worked hard to stay that way perhaps to a fault

All Eragon had to do to draw the attention of the room was to draw himself to his full height. He was not an especially tall man, but there was something about him that commanded the attention anyways. Ilia suspected it was the weight of the power behind him. The look on his face was grave, and there was a sense of tension about him.

"The recent attack has revealed more about this enemy than we might have otherwise known," Eragon began. "Firstly, we now know that it is, in fact, an enemy. Whatever it is, it appears to have the ability to subdue at least one dragon at a time. It also has the ability to pull the eldunari straight from a dragon, thus killing it. Murtagh's initial reason for coming all the way was to inform us of peculiar patterns all through Alagaesia. Vroengard has been razed to the ground. I believe that the reason for this is because it was looking for the Vault of Souls which is where the Eldunarya were initially housed."

One of the older riders, a dwarf called Haldor, spoke up. "You found the Vault of Souls. Do you not know for certain where it is?" he asked.

Eragon shook his head. "While we rescued all of the eldunarya from within, there was a powerful ward on the entrance that had anyone who found it instantly forgetting where it was. It was to keep it out of the hands of people like Galbatorix, but perhaps also meant for something more sinister. I can only draw upon vague memory and the fact that Vroengard was so thoroughly searched, according to Murtagh."

"Can we consult the eldunarya?" Haldor asked.

Eragon nodded. "We have, but only this morning. It is only this attack that has revealed to us exactly what this thing wanted. It is difficult to draw anything from them however; we have kept the oldest and strongest of the eldunarya locked away. They sleep, and they are difficult to rouse from their slumber. We were, for the moment, only able to begin to wake them."

This was frustrating, but they were dealing with the most ancient of dragons that they had available to them. Eragon knew that even that might not be ancient enough.

"So what are we up against?" asked Ailara.

For a moment Eragon was quiet, and Ilia almost swore his gaze lingered on her a moment. She turned it to the floor, forcing the very thoughts away and willing away the flush in her cheeks. Thankfully the lighting in here was not great, lest he notice something like that.

"We don't know. Neither Murtagh nor Sorren caught anything significant. What we do know is that it is powerful, and it is probably only Thorn that could have saved them, due to his size and power. As it stands Murtagh and Thorn seemed to have surprised the creature, which was distracted by the process of pulling Arin's heart of hearts from his body."

The weight of that statement hung in the room; they all knew what that meant.

"No one saw anything?" It was Althea who spoke, her tone a little more curt than Ilia thought it should have been, given the circumstances.

Whether Eragon noticed this or not, he didn't show it. "Both Sorren and Arin report only darkness, as if the very sun were blotted out. We have yet to work out whether this was a physical thing or merely a blocking of the senses by magic. Murtagh described a similar phenomenon, saying that he only heard Arin's distress and felt the magic before discovering them in a shroud of what appeared to be smoke. They didn't know what was happening, but Thorn and Murtagh were able to fight it off with fire and magic. We are doubtful that they did anything more than scare it off."

"Then we go after it with an assault. If one single dragon can do so much damage, more of us can destroy it," the dwarf said.

There was a rumble of noise through the crowd; most of them uncertain and some seeming to consider that this was, perhaps, a good idea.

Eragon shook his head. "No. We do not know enough about it. Murtagh, combined with Thorn, is the most formidable magician I know. That he was nearly overpowered so easily tells me that we cannot go into this blind."

"Forgive me for disagreeing Eragon, but I am certain the sheer number of us could do it," Althea insisted.

There was a growing tension in Eragon, his fists clenching at his side. "Murtagh and Thorn could take on everyone in this room in combat at once, myself excluded, and win. Do not underestimate his power." Normally Eragon was calm and collected when he spoke of these things, but there was note of tension in his voice that spoke of his frustration.

"So what do we do?" It was Ilia this time; she could see that everyone was growing tense. There was a lot of power in this room, and they could probably argue about how strong they were for an age and get nowhere.

Eragon let out a breath. He deeply missed Torian in moments like this. "We have strengthened the wards around our outpost. I suspect that the creature has been searching for ways through our defenses, sensing the large amount of dragons and eldunarya in this area. Blödhgarm will be overseeing the team who will keep watch. No dragon and rider is to leave the area beyond the wards without my knowledge, and never in any less than three pairs. Until Torian and the others return with information, we need to be careful

Some were less impressed with this than others. "So we are to sit and wait? We are prisoners in our own home?" Althea had always been the most outspoken, though her kin in the room seemed to be agreeing with her.

This time, the look on Eragon's face grew soft. "This is no dungeon, Althea. You are free to leave at any point. I am simply saying that, if you choose to disobey my instructions, then you put your life and the life of your dragon at grave risk. Murtagh and Thorn will not be around to rescue anyone else."

A silence fell over the room, and Eragon kept the dwarf's gaze for a moment before she let it drop. It was a testament to Eragon's leadership that he would offer boundaries and consequences instead of orders and punishment.

With another breath, Eragon appeared to relax some. "In the meantime, we keep training. We get stronger. We consult the eldunarya when we are able, and we wait for information from the others when they return."

No one else in the room had anything else to say; it was not a very good plan, most of them thought, but it was the only one that they had.

"This meeting is dismissed. I will attend to Sorren and Murtagh, and you are free to return to your training. Regular schedules will be resumed tomorrow," he informed them. Ilia assumed that the last bit was mostly for her; she was the only one with a schedule disrupted because he wasn't there. There was still training to do on her own, however, and she was going to make sure that she got to that.

It was three weeks passed the incident and Sorren and Arin had mostly recovered, and they were learning how to function with the eldunari outside of the dragon. Everyone else was learning mostly defensive manoeuvres until they had more information. As far as they knew, those who had left for Alagaësia were expected back within the week.

Ilia was at the training grounds that morning, practising her aim with the daggers. She had taken Eragon's previous suggestion to heart, and she was working on being a little more effortless in her delivery. Such a skill was likely useless against whatever it was they were facing, but it was a way to clear her mind since they couldn't just go flying and Eragon had told her the skills would translate elsewhere.

As for her feelings she felt as though she had a handle on them. It was frustrating that the little revelation had made things a little more difficult, but she had decided it would be a good training exercise. Eragon had become a distraction for her, but if she could push through that and focus it would only make her stronger. Ilia knew how to function with lots of emotion coursing through her; she was simply learning how to channel it properly.

Eragon appeared at the time he had told her he would. Months ago he would have been shocked to see her here so early, but Ilia had become a much more dedicated student. She was growing in leaps and bounds and he was proud of the person she was becoming in the process.

"You're getting very good," he said softly as he approached.

Ilia was glad that the compliment didn't really draw much of a response from her, emotionally or physically. Instead she pursed her lips. "I'd say I was very good before. I'm just getting better," she insisted.

Eragon rolled his eyes; sometimes she was a welcome break from all the tension around him. It was a thought he never imagined he'd have.

Moving to collect her daggers she replaced them into their holsters. She then went to collect a sword when she realised that Eragon was not dressed for training. Instead of his usual leather tunic and pants, which were better at staving off attacks from blunted swords, he was wearing a casual blue top with brown pants. The boots he wore were a soft leather, and definitely not for fighting. "Is everything you own the colour of your dragon?" she asked him.

Eragon shrugged. "People seem to think it's all I want to wear when they make clothes for me. I haven't seen a need to argue," he responded. Fashion wasn't exactly on the forefront of his mind.

"We're not training today," Ilia stated then.

"We're not training with swords today," Eragon clarified. "I thought we could do some magic instead."

This wasn't exactly a new thing; they had been practising that as often as physical combat. She now had a few jewels to store energy in and she and Luan had been practising spells together. Saphira wasn't around however, so it couldn't have anything to do with that.

"But this is different magic," Ilia surmised.

Eragon smiled; she had always been bright. "Sort of. Walk with me," he said, then motioned for her to follow.

"I was thinking about our wards. Eventually they will likely fail, if this thing gets hungry or angry enough. Something that powerful will likely be almost impossible to hold back," he told her.

Ilia was surprised at the calm way he said that; he'd basically told her that everything they had built here was about to be threatened.

"Why me?" Ilia asked.

"Your natural defenses are unlike anything I've seen. I think we should make use of that," he told her. The reason for this was clear now; it had been a reaction to everything bad that had happened to her. Ilia had come a long way in facing her pain, but he hoped that those defenses were still strong.

Ilia let out a breath. "I still don;t understand. All the more people who have training are much stronger," she insisted.

Eragon nodded. "We sent some of those people to Alagaesia. The others are busy defending the outpost. Some are better at it than others, we all have our specialties, and I think this is yours. It's possible to compartmentalise the defenses, and I thought we could do some work with that. Then, I'd like you to train the others that you came with. It would free up some of the time that we have to spend on these things."

Most of that made sense, but Ilia still wasn't convinced that she was the best person for this job. Eragon was trusting her with something though, even if she didn't understnd the reason, but she needed to honour his request and do it well. "Okay," she breathed, watching him for a moment. "But why compartmentalise it all? Why not just general defence?"

"Because we don't really know anything about what we're up against. All we know is that it wants a dragon's eldunari, and it's powerful enough to do it. Brute strength and force are not going to win this fight. I don't think it was the fact that Sorren and Arin are new trainees that got them. Murtagh and Thorn were also very close to being overpowered. If we can strengthen the defense around our own dragon's eldunari, maybe that will give us a fighting chance."

This did make sense to Ilia, though that sounded very complicated. "So it's not just compartmentalising then. We have to project that defence outward," she clarified.

Eragon looked thoughtful. "To a certain extent, I suppose. But when you and your dragon are truly in harmony, your minds effectively operate as one. The eldunari is part of that process. But you have to feel it out first. Today we're going to work on general defences. Then you will practise, and you and Luan will come and you will learn how to find his heart of hearts within him. From there, you will learn how to defend it," he explained.

All of that sounded like a daunting process, but Ilia knew she had to try. These were desperate times, but Eragon would not have asked her if he did not think she was capable.

Eragon stood, moving to the little stove where he was boiling a kettle. Whether it was for the sake of informality or if he meant to use it he didn't say, but Ilia figured some tea would be nice.

"Defense magic often comes in the form of focusing on one thing so fully that there is nothing else in the mind," he said as he poured two cups of tea. "I want you to start there. Going forward, I want you to find a way to compartmentalise."

"Why don't you just show me?" she asked.

Eragon smiled, placing the cup and saucer in front of her. "That would be too easy."

Ilia pursed her lips. "You don't know how."

The grin on his face widened. "Not exactly, no."

There was a sigh as Ilia rolled her eyes. "You are the most powerful magician of all time, and you haven't figured this out?"

"My power is debatable, despite what people think. The Queen Arya, she is probably more powerful. Murtagh might well be," he answered, but he knew that's not what she wanted. "My skill is largely in combat magic. My defenses are strong, but I'm asking you to specialise. As I said before, you are naturally inclined and you are new to this. Often it's those minds that come up with the best solutions. I may be the teacher, but I am not above learning from my students."

Ilia thought this was an interesting point, and he looked like he meant it. There was something on his face that told her he had learned that lesson the hard way. For now all her questions had been answered. "Alright, show me what to do," she said.

Eragon spent the rest of the afternoon coaching her on how to concentrate. The tea was helpful, as it gave her something to think about. It wasn't quite strong enough, but Eragon was patient in his urging. He never got frustrated with her, and he praised her when she seemed to make progress. At the very least Ilia was beginning to understand how it all worked, and it gave her some homework to do.

Defence magic, as all magic was, was surprisingly tiring. Ilia was absolutely drained, and she had no idea how she was going to practise when she was this tired. Eragon looked a little worn as well, which was at least a point of victory for her.

"This was difficult for you," she said, smirking some.

Eragon raised an eyebrow at her. "Not exactly," he countered smoothly.

Ilia pursed her lips. "But it wasn't as easy as you thought it would be," she insisted.

Eragon shrugged, but she could see the strain in his shoulders. "I know that your defences are strong. I wouldn't have chosen you otherwise. It would be foolish of me to think that I would not need to exude any effort."

The woman rolled her eyes at him; he was using a lot of flowery words. Ilia noticed that he tended to do that a little more when he was being evasive. "But you exuded more effort than you were initially anticipating," she pressed, using his tactic. There was a grin on her face as she spoke.

Pressing his lips into a thin line, Eragon watched her. His eyes were dancing with mirth, however, and he couldn't hide it. Eventually he sighed, reaching a hand and rushing the handle of the tea cup with his finger so it spun in the saucer. "Perhaps," he conceded.

Ilia's grin grew wider; she knew she had him. Placing her hands against the table she pushed herself to stand. "Well then, Eragon, I will see you tomorrow. And I shall practise in such a way that will have you exuding far more effort than you could ever anticipate," she told him.

"We'll see," he said as she left.

Once she was gone Eragon sighed, watching the door for a moment. Tomorrow was probably going to be interesting.

Calmer of the Storm: Y'all keep forgettin' to review ;)