For lack of a better word
Disclaimer: Eragon belongs to Christopher Paolini
Eragon could feel the shocked silence of those around him. What this man told him changed the way he looked at the fall. But the more practical side of Eragon realised something. The man he was talking to could be the ancestor of someone he knew in Carvahall! He would have to find out more about that later. The people of Carvahall were here so.. "We'll deal with that later". Karris' voice cut into his head. "There is only one question left. Who will you serve? The Varden? The dwarves?The elves? Or me?" Eragon stared at him. "I am already bound to the dwarves and the Varden. The elves think they have a hold on me but it does not exist. They claim I owe a debt to them for Saphira." "They probably made you swear loyalty in the ancient loyalty" said Karris distastefully. "Yes, I am also incappable of harming them because of a promise I made to Arya." "For three thousand years I've studied the elves. For as long as they can remember they've used something that doesn't belong to them to gain power. The ancient language doesn't belong to them. It's time we remind them of that fact."
Eragon and Karris walked out. Arya stood looking at him with a look of unmatched rage. "Uh, Karris?" thought Eragon. "Yes, Eragon?". "Well she is the elven princess and you killed her father." "What's your point?". Eragon stopped trying to reason with him. "Where is Nasauda?" he asked Arya politely. "Please leave" she said. "Do not excpect us to welcome your presence here.You may be here to help rid us of Galbatorix but you are the one who put him on his throne. You are the betrayer! T he elves sing curses to your name almost every night!Leave!" The last part was so powerfull it reached most of the people near heard them mentally. "Foolish elf" he whispered. "I didn't mention my first ten years as a rider did I? In that time I brought new teachings! Teachings that crushed them! And they condemed it? Would you deny my teachings to Eragon despite the fact that it's the only thing that can save him? Or are you worried about how my teachings will affect him? Scared that he will no longer be your puppet?" Arya flared up. It was harder to say who hated the other more. "I know all of your plans" continued Karris ruthlessly. "Your people rejoiced at Brom's death!You hoped you would now have a better chance at making a puppet! I served under you elves long enough to know how you think. Now I will leave. It's Eragon's choice weather or not he will join me." Karris jumped onto Eridor's back and they flew off. After a moments hesitation Eragon and Saphira followed him.
Karris flew al the way to Leona Lake before stopping. Eragon noticed that there was a tent and several carcasses next to the lake. Eragon and Saphira flew though the lake and then drippingly wet approached Karris and Eridor. "I have been camping here since your fight with Murtagh.Impressive guy. I had to stop him from getting to helgrind. Flew off with his dragon in a huff after that.I'm sorry, but he was much better looking than you. Nothing on me of course." Eragon got the idea he was talking simply because he had no idea what to do. "Did you know he's my brother?" asked Eragon trying to make converation. "Yeah, your Morzan's boys alright. Same stubbornness. Same faith." He sighed, obviosly lost in sad memories. He then went to sleep in his tent and Eragon and Saphira slept next to Leona Lake.
The next morning Karris appeared holding two swords. He handed Eragon one of them. "We'll do sparring in the morning" he said in answer to Eragon's puzzeled look. "Unlike Oromis I prefer starting my morning with violence" he said with a smile. "The swords are ready. Defend yourself!" he cried and threw himself at Eragon. Eragon was outmatched before. Oromis and Arya both managed to beat him. He hoped his strength might help him but against Karris it didn't matter. Unlike Oromis who was a blend of speed and grace Karris was a mixture of confusion, speed and sheer strentgh. Whenever Eragon tried to predict what he was going to do he was proven wrong. His style, if he even had one made no sense. Every attack had opened a hundred new ways to strike. Every time he chose the one that Eragon couldn't defend himself against. After five minutes he had touched Eragon twenty times. "Your good" he said afterwards. "With a year's work you'll either be beter or as good as me. Each morning I will teach you new styles for an hour and we will practice sparring with them an hour after that.Now it's time I teach you the three techniques. We'll will start with lying in the ancient language...
An hour later Eragon and Karris sat atop a lonely mountian peak that over looked Leona Lake. "This area is spelled.No one but Galbatorix is powerfull enough to enter here without my permission. Here is where you shall learn the spells that the elves are too cowardly to utter...
"Firstly Eragon, what is the ancient language?"Karris asked this like Oromis usally asked Eragon questions. Privately Eragon thought that as Brom mirrored Oromis, Oromis mirrored Karris. "It is a language that the Gray folk used to shape magic.Now all magic users use it." "Why?" asked Karris, acting as if there was a point Eragon just couldn't see. "Because of a spell the gray folk worked to make it so" said Eragon confused because Karris had just started smiling. "It's amazing. The elves knew of this tremendous discovery and just left it there! That's what made me different. Instead of looking forward, I looked back. Two of my techniques are modifications of exisiting spells." Karris smiled. "Now, here's what I alone wondered after I was taught that lesson. If a spell could be used to make words control magic, could a different spell make those words lose that control?" he smiled hugely. Eragon saw what he was driving at. "You invented a spell that made the ancient language just another language?" Eragon asked numbstruck."With this spel you can lie in the ancient language. It also breaks all oaths you may have made. To you see why I wanted to teach this ability to you first?" "Of course, but will it also work on Saphira?" Eragon asked. "Why is that important?" asked Karris the smile fading slightly. "Because Saphira made a promise that she would return to Oromis to finish our training." "Karris looked uncertian. "Dammit" he said after some thinking. "Looks like we'll have to return to those damn elves."
Eragon was worried. His new master was just sitting there staring. Suddenly he looked up. "What were Saphira's words?" "That we shall return as soon as the situation permits." "Very well, after three days we shall fly to Oromis. That should be enough time to teach you the three tecnicques. Actually two of the techniques will take you about ten minutes to learn. But the, for lack of a better word, the absorbing of souls may take some time.Well let us begin..."
"The gray folk , as far as I can tell, directed their magic into a form that the ancient language defined them.In a sense the words and magic became one. All your going to be learning is to split them.Now the spell is simple. The ancient language has a name in the ancient language. It's called Afrikaans. Simply say the spell ,make Afikaans magicless for me." Eragon said it and felt incredible. It felt as if all magic was at his grasp.Karris smiled. He obviously knew that feeling. "Now you can lie,make false oaths ,anything." "But how would I work spells?" asked Eragon his feeling of elation droping. "That is the beauty of it. Chose a new language to make your ancient language.I chose the language of the Kull. It's important that you use a language that is rarely spoken. Otherwise people might realise what we're up to...
A few hours later after Eragon had chosen the language of the dwarven priests, Karris and Eragon sat beside Leona Lake eating fish and vegatables. Eragon ate only vegatables whilst Karris enjoyed his fish. "But didn't the riders forbid you to eat meat?" asked Eragon puzzeled. "Yes, I whined for some time and eventually took to eating meat in secret. It was my favourite way of finding out if a rider was rebellious. Offer him meat." "But don't you feel disgusted? Your training made you part of their lives. Their lives are all they have. How can you just take it from them?" "Boy, the elves did more damage to you then I thought. They have all sorts of customs that I won't comply with" "Answer my question" said Eragon. "I like the taste of meat. And no deer or rabbit or squirrel is going to get me to change my habits.We'll never speak of this again."
The next morning Eragon learned new styles from Karris and managed to defend himself beter but it wasn' much of an improvement. They returned to the mountian where Eragon was going to learn how to break into people's minds. "It's simple really" said Karris. "It's a simple way of breaking concentration. And when you lose your concentration you lose your ability to defend yourself." Karris said this as if it saddened him. "I didn't invent it. It was invented by a friend and the only person who believed I would succeed when I started. My old elvish master. I man named Kliftdrift. He was later excucuted for his crimes against humanity.Namely trying to kill me.He knew of my plot and he knew I would succeed.But let us continue. The technique is simple if crude. Whilst bearing your will against your opponents defences you speak to him. Most don't know that it is possible and immdiedly think you've broken in.They then abbonden their defences and prepared to defend themselves.Vrael wasn't fool enough to fall for it, Brom was to angry or insane to hear us and Oromis knew of the tecnique.He learned it from me.That's all there is to it.Now how to absorb souls...
"Once again I pride myself on looking back. One of the things I was most eager to learn was how the elves became so strong. When I learned the secret it shocked me. The mixed themselves with the dragons to become stronger. But it made me think.It made me think if the elves became stronger after the two races were combined, what would happened if I did it with a single person. Now the origanal spell had to be heavily modified to work.The whole both parties staying alive and changing according to the others traits had to change for obvious reasons. I couldn't use a tecnique that strenghed and changed both parties. So I altered the spell with different specifications.When my masterpiece was complete it took an hour to say al the words.I used a captured elf for my first try. I felt new energy full my body. I felt magically stronger. It took me a thousand years to perfect the spell.It took me another thousand to bring it down to ten minutes worth of words. And this spell is what Galbatorix is using to make him stronger over the past eight decades." "But how?" asked Eragon. "There are no riders left so how does he get enough people to keep increasing his power?"Karris sighed. "You forget Galbatorix has an empire worth of people at his command. At the end of every year Galbatorix goes to fetch a precentage of those born with magic. He uses ordinary magicians.Of late he has taken more and more of them.Obviously to bulk up Murtagh."
Over the next few hours Karris made sure Eragon completely understood how the spell worked. "One mistake and you can end up with your mind split in two" he warned. That night they ate deer meat and bread. Eragon didn't want to intrude on Karris's choices so he let it be. But they still had problems. For one Eragon didn't have a sword and for another Eragon didn't know where he would get that many souls or if he even wanted to use that tecnique.But he saved his questions. He had a few years expirence. Karris had over three thounsand years of expirence.
The next day sparring went well enough.Karris said he saw notable improvement in him. The next time was used for manipulation of magic. Eragon also learned new words in his ancient language. When words didn't exisist for what he wanted to accomplish he and Karris invented new ones and made them part of the language. They then flew back to the Varden. They would leave a message to Nasuada and Roran before flying off to Oromis.
Roran was in a great mood. Having been reunited with Katrina was one of the greatest times of his life. He also enjoyed great fame as Eragon Shadslayer's cousin. Having said goodby,Eragon and Karris approached Nasuada's tent.Eragon was nervous but Karris was upbeat. He gallantly kissed Nasuada's hand when he entered. Nasuada and King Orrin along with Arya were inside. Orrin was the only one who smiled. He obviously felt no fear but rather wanted to see if Karris could help him with something. They left together and Eragon was trapped with two very angry women. Arya walked up and promptly slapped him hard. Nasuada then appropached him and asked "Eragon have you sided with him?" She managed to appear completely calm and composed. Eragon wondered what to do. He then said "I'm doing what you taught me. Defeat Galbatorix by any means necassery. If you'll excuse me we're leaving to return to the elves. We won't be long" and with that Eragon walked out and with Karris flew to Du Weldhevarden.
Try and figure out where Eragon can get enough souls...