Chapter 2: Time for a break
Authors note: happy me, its chapter number 2! please review so i know if you like it or not. if i don't think you like it i will stop writing it.
Murtagh… my own brother, Eragon was lost in thought, sitting in front of his tent. not only that, but Morzan, my father… he didn't even notice when Arya, whom he still had feelings for, stopped in front of him and asked,
"Eragon, what happened back there?" he was staring at his feet, unaware that he had been asked a question, seeing this, Arya leaned over and tapped him on the shoulder,
"Eragon?" she asked again. He jumped up at her touch, hand flying to his belt, where Zar'roc no longer lay. "Huh? Oh, Arya, what did you say? I'm afraid I am a bit tangled in my own thoughts at the moment"
"I was asking you what happened back in the tent, one minute you were talking, the next you were yelling as if we had caused you great grief. I hope it's not so." He sighed when she said this,
"No, no one had done anything, its just I feel a bit tied up right now, with no choice over my own life, I ended up yelling before I knew it."
"Hmm, we all go through rough periods, Eragon, I guess it's just one of yours right now." They both stood there silent for a few seconds, and Eragon's mind drifted back off to his family, I suppose it's not really Murtagh's fault, if the king really does have their true names, and forced him to swear in the ancient language, I'm probably just looking for someone to blame for this, and it should be Galbatorix.
"I think you need a break, Eragon. Would you join me on the training ground?" Arya broke the silence,
"Erm, what the hell, I'll get Roran up as well so I can see how he is with a blade, which reminds me, I'll need to get a sword from somewhere as well, because Murtagh…" he drifted off, "I'll wake Roran" he snapped himself out of it. After walking to where Roran slept, he crouched down and lightly shook him.
"Roran, will you come with us to the training ground?" Eragon asked him, and, rubbing sleep from his eyes, Roran replied,
"Sure, let me grab my stuff." He got up and started rooting around his bag, "so who's 'us'?"
"Me and Arya, the Elf who you met yesterday. Do you have a sword? Because I'd like to see how proficient you are with one."
"Well no, I just have my hammer, I have used it since I needed to fight, and didn't think about getting a sword." Roran replied, pulling on his tunic,
"Ah, well we are both in need of one then. Even if you don't want to use a sword in battle all the time, it would still be good to have it as a side arm, in case you lose your hammer." Eragon advised, as they stepped back outside together.
"Ready?" Arya asked,
"Yep, let's go!" Eragon enthusiastically said, it would be good to test my cousin, no, brother, in combat, he thought, as they set off towards the training grounds, on foot, as he could sense that Saphira had fallen back to sleep with extreme exhaustion. They spoke little on the way, Roran half asleep still, Arya apparently deep in thought, and Eragon mentally checking his body, to see if it was ready for combat. When they reached the wide plain of combats, drills and archery, Eragon quickly scanned for the armoury, and set off towards it. A friendly faced man was sitting next to the racks of weapons; obviously it was his duty to distribute them right now. As they approached, the man got up from his seat and bowed once, for them all,
"Good morning, Sir Shadeslayer, and your noble companions. Prey, what may I get for you from my stall?"
"Hello to you as well Mr…?" Eragon asked for his name,
"Oh, I'm Halbert Fondsworth, my lord, and your friends are called? If may be so presumptuous to ask?
"I am Arya, ambassador for the Elves; it is a pleasure to meet you, Halbert Fondsworth"
"And I am Roran Stronghammer, cousin of Eragon," Roran answered, "I would ask for a sword from your rack, if you have one to spare,"
"I too would like a sword," Eragon requested,
"Well of course I can find swords for you two, unless you would rather choose them yourselves?"
"Yes, thank you, I'll have a look" Eragon replied, starting to pick up and check several swords. When he had found two that would suit both him and Roran, he then said to Halbert,
"I am afraid that I have no money to give, at the moment, so would you require anything else, or an I.O.U.?"
"Oh, I would never have asked for money off you, Shadeslayer, but if I could watch you fight then that will be more than enough for the sword" Halbert asked excitedly.
"I think you can watch us" Eragon said, smiling. They moved a little away from the racks, so as not to get in anyone's way, then Eragon magically blunted both swords, and handed one to Roran.
"It will not cut me now, so feel free to give everything you've got!" Eragon explained, as he and Roran both moved to their fighting stances, Roran a bit more uncomfortably with a sword.
Then Roran lunged forward, hoping to get an early hit in while Eragon was unprepared, but he saw it coming and easily batted the blade aside and went through what seemed like a slow attack pattern to him, while Roran was madly swinging to avoid several blows to his body. Eragon would swipe horizontally, and then use Roran's deflecting force to spin it around to his other side, then bring the sword up and slash at Roran's neck. Eragon of course was easily winning, and could have disarmed Roran at any time, but kept on going to work Roran. Eventually, when he decided that Roran had worked hard enough, he spun his sword in a circle around Roran's and then swung it to the right, sending Roran's sword flying. After a few minutes of huffing and puffing on Roran's behalf, he finally managed to gasp;
"Wow… where did you learn to fight like that?" Eragon then chuckled,
"Brom taught me a lot, at least in human standards, and then I was given… a gift" he explained,
"Oh right, classified information, I see. Well I'm sure you two won't mind if I just lie down here for a few minutes." And with that Roran fell over where he was, still breathing heavily and drenched in sweat.
"Well now Eragon, it seems that you are in need of a sparring partner" Arya, who had previously been sitting with Halbert, had walked over to issue this challenge. Without waiting for an answer, she stood in the guard position opposite Eragon. I guess I accepted then… Eragon thought, as he joined the guard position as well. They both stood like that for 5 seconds… 10 seconds… 30 seconds, when Arya suddenly sprinted two strides and swung at Eragon's neck. Even before she swung her sword, Eragon had darted to the right, and stabbed at her side, when she brought her sword up to meet his, and sparks flew everywhere. Jumping back, Arya started twirling her sword in front of her, until Eragon stopped the motion with another stab. By now, a large crowd had gathered, leaving plenty of room for the opponents to swing. Most were shouting and offering their advice, but neither was listening to the world other than the fight, they were concentrating with their entire mind to out manoeuvre the other.
Swords locked, they both stood, trying to push the others sword away, when Eragon swung her sword out of the way, and slashed at her ribs. The blow hit home, and with a sickening thud, Arya flew backwards 10 feet, but suffered no damage except for being winded, thanks to Eragon's blocked sword. Apparently unfazed, she leapt up and parried the next swing, this time from overhead. As she prepared for another swing at him, his came with a thwack on her arm, but thankfully not her sword arm, and she was able to parry the next few hits, though losing ground to him. When she managed to get a swing at him, he had already jumped over her head, and hit her across the back. Wow! he thought, continuing his assault, this is much easier than last time I fought her, it just shows what new power I have gained from the dragon. Finally, Eragon put all his power into one swing, which wouldn't have even hit her, but she got her sword in the way of it, and it was yanked out of her hand to bury itself in the ground by Halbert. Before she could go to retrieve it, Eragon touched his sword to her neck.
"It seems that you have improved greatly since we last fought, Eragon" she said, loud enough for him to hear over the whoops of the crowd. He hadn't enough time to thank her when everyone rushed over to congratulate him.
"Wow, and I thought you were going hard on me!" Roran delightedly stated, "With that kind of fighting on out team, there's no way that the Ra'zac will live! By the way, when will we be able to do that?" Roran asked. It looks like my break is over, then Eragon thought to himself with a sigh.
"Let's go to our tent to talk about this" he suggested, and started working his way through the dispersing crowd.