Chapter 8 (Rewritten)

Two days had passed since Eragon's mistake during his encounter with the twelve Urgals. When he woke up, Brom gave him a stern lecture and Saphira was a little distant, chastising herself for following his idea and putting the two of them in danger. Fortunately for the duo, the swordsman got rid of some of the monsters who were going to kill the dragoness but others managed to escape in the wild despite the old man hunting the survivors during the last 48 hours.

"Brom, he's just a child. You can't expect him to know exactly what to do in every situation! It was his first real fight, it's completely normal to mess up in a moment like this one."

"Indeed, but it was stupid! Soon, Galbatorix will know the face of the person for who Saphira hatched. There'll be posters with our heads on it everywhere! The roads and towns are going to be patrolled by the guards. From now on, we have to be more cautious than ever."

It was at this moment Eragon decided to step in.

"You told me the Urgals spotted Saphira's footprints. So, what if they saw me?"

Brom stuck his sword in the ground, then pointed his left index at the young man and spoke with evident anger in his voice. "I said there was a possibility they saw her tracks. Anyway, it's too late now." He sighed, deflating before shaking in head in fatigue. "After this, you're not worthy of being called a Rider anymore, kid."

He tore his blade off the ground, sat near the fire and began cleaning his weapon. The young farmer was flabbergasted but the feeling was quickly replaced by shame and guilt. The understanding of how disastrous his act could have been dawned on him like a brick and the glint in his eyes dulled, he then sat down near the storyteller.

"It's my fault if you acted foolishly, I taught you how to use magic but not when. Your little stunt in trying to send them back to Teirm could have killed you if you weren't as trained as you are right now. We'll use the necessary weeks for your arm to heal to teach you every situation where you can use magic safely and without putting your life on the line."

The storyteller then looked at the swordsman.

"How are you sure Galbatorix is the one leading them?"

"The Urgal I spoke to told me his leader knew who I was and that I would never achieve my objective. The Ra'zac could have shared this information with only one person and it's the mad king."

He hummed, his mind racing with theories to try to understand this turnaround in the tyrant's strategy. "If it's the case, that's something completely new, especially coming from him. It was the Urgals who killed his first dragon, what's the use in having an alliance with them?" said the old man, more to himself than the others. "Anyway, we'll know sooner or later. In the meantime, we have to keep moving, there's still a long way to go."

The three of them prepared the horses for the day's travel. In less than ten minutes, they were ready. Then, they set off towards the Toark River. When they stopped for the night, Brom mumbled: "We all start somewhere."

Despite the swordsman taking his defense and doing his best to minimize his mistake, Eragon understood that Brom was disappointed.

During the following days, he continued pushing the young Rider through a strict training, questioning him on a lot of things and giving him tips about what to do in situations involving magic, Urgals, Saphira and sometimes a Shade. Alex also listened, thinking he could learn some useful things if the need arose. When the farmer was spending time riding his dragoness, the two adults talked a lot, tossing back and forth ideas or input on the recent events or even, what would await them in the near future.

Eragon mentioned the woman he saw in his dream and that he visualized in the bowl of water a few days prior, when they were staying at Teirm. Due to this singular case, because Brom was never confronted to something like this, they decided it would be a good idea to visit discreetly the donjons of every town they would visit to see if she was there.

Time passed by and soon, the group was now back on the plains. The temperature was getting warmer than before, indicating that winter slowly gave way to spring. Flowers were appearing everywhere, where once was dry earth, grass grew in its place and nests could be seen in a lot of trees. After riding a few leagues, Brom pointed his left finger in front of him, aiming it at a large body of water. "We're near the Leona Lake, it's two or three leagues away from our position, not more. We'll settle camp on the nearest part to us, since it's away from privy eyes and any kind of road."

The travelers arrived at their destination a few moments after the moon rose. The lake looked like a thin layer of silver, it was the total opposite of the sea: calm, smooth and without any wave. Without the moon reflecting on it, it would have been impossible to distinguish water from ground.

The trio decided to make camp immediately and go to sleep just after, too tired to practice swordplay or magic. Fortunately, Alex had provided the food they nibbled on during today's travel.

At dawn, Eragon was the first to wake up and admired the lake in the daylight. The farmer quickly walked back to the camp to convince his dragoness to go for a swim with him. The latter happily accepted and the two of them flew away from the shore.

Awakened by their movements, Alex stood up and decided to gather some wood for a fire and prepare breakfast. When his task was done and the food was slowly cooking, he sat against a tree, watching the duo play in the water. Slowly, a fond smile grew on his lips. It reminded him of his childhood with his best friend, Robert. When the summer was around, they used to go to a small river, not far from where Alex lived. Those inseparable friends spent all their afternoon there, talking, fishing or listening to the wild life around them… until that fateful day. Since then, Alex never came back there.

"When all of this is over, I'll go back to our little place, even if it's for the last time." He whispered, while hot tears were falling down his cheeks.

"Something's wrong?"

Turning his head to the left, the man with brown hair saw Brom sitting in front of the fire. The elder was looking at him curiously and with a hint of worry in his tone. It warmed his heart to know that the old Rider cared for his wellbeing.

"Huh? Oh, nah, I'm fine." Alex sniffled a few times and dried his cheeks with his jacket. His eyes were slightly puffy and his face red.

Now, the storyteller had a sad expression on his face. "It's about your friend, isn't it?"

He sighed and nodded. "Yes. When we were children, we used to play near a river. It was the good, old times. Since the day they killed him, I never found the courage to go back there."

The swordsman then watched the Rider and his lizard swimming.

"They're so young, so innocent. They don't deserve to live this kind of life, always on the roads."

"I agree with you." replied Brom. "But this is how the world is. We can't do everything we want."

Alex nodded.

"What's the plan for today?"

"Day off. We'll travel tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me, excepted when we were at Teirm, we never really had one. I'm going to take a nap."

The old man looked surprised. "No training today?"

"I kept my skills sharp during the last two weeks, one day without a sword in my hand isn't going to kill me!" he laughed.

"Who are you and what did you do to Alex?"

The young man with almond eyes smirked and shook his head. "You told me I had to slow down on my work out. I'm just following the voice of wisdom, nothing else."

Strangely, the blue dragon swam in direction of the camp and walked to the swordsman. She stopped less than three meters away from him and lightly touched his right feet with her nose before projecting her thoughts.

«Alex, would you like to swim with us? I'm sure Eragon would be delighted if you decide to join… me too. We could try to swim to the bottom of the lake if your lungs can bear it.»

He pondered the proposition for a moment, trying to recall the last time he had enjoyed the pool or even the sea. It was three years ago? Maybe four at most. He loved water and the feeling of floating in it but didn't have much time for relaxing activities like this one during his years spent in training.

"Fortunately for you, I have a change of clothes." He then began undressing, only leaving his boxer. "Go first, I'll follow shortly."

The young dragoness showed the draconic version of a smile by rolling up her lips and jumped back to the shore, her hips swaying joyfully.

"I'm glad you decided to take on her offer." said Brom, an amused glint in his eyes.

Shrugging, Alex took out a towel and fresh underwear.

"I'll make the most of it while I'm here. Who know what will happen tomorrow and just like you said, it's a day off. Not taking a moment to relax and release some stress would be wasting time."

He then rushed after the dragoness who was back playing with her Rider. Despite being a lake, the water was still tending more toward cold than fresh but it's still felt good to merge in it. A good kind of chill ran up his spine and his body hair stood up in reaction but couldn't prevent himself from letting out a high-pitched cry as his private parts made contact with the fluid. Soon, after getting acclimated to the temperature, he joined the duo and began wrestling amicably with the farmer, under the watchful and happy gaze of Saphira. Then, after a few words exchanged between the three of them, the two boys jumped on her back and she took flight. The young dragoness had fun grazing the water with her claws, a tone moment, she totally closed her wings and broke the surface of the lake, like a spear. The shock from hitting the water almost unseated Eragon while his fellow warrior had braced himself for the impact and was a little better prepared.

Saphira emerged and took the sky again, zigzagging over the lake. «Ready? » she said. They both nodded. This time, she sank into the water slower and did a few acrobatics movements. Even if he was on his back and couldn't admire the scene, Alex was captivated by her grace and the way she moved, it was beautiful to see.

However, his and Eragon's lungs didn't have enough capacity to their breath any longer and the blue lizard exited the water. One hour later, the trio was back on solid ground, drying themselves before saddling the horses and leaving the camp.

Eragon and Brom were standing fifteen feet away from each other. No one moved a muscle and a heavy silence reigned over the camp. Finally, after a few seconds, it was the farmer who did the first move by launching a stick at the old man with his right hand but failed miserably because of his injury. He then ducked under the storyteller's blow before launching himself at him. The two of them fought on the ground before jumping again to their feet. Every time their blades met, there were sparks.

Slowly, the outcome of the battle changed. Brom was losing ground and he was getting slower. Finally, Eragon swung Zar'roc faster than before. In result, the bald man's sword was knocked to the ground.

"You finally surpassed me."

"But we just started," protested the rider.

Brom sat on the ground and sheathed his weapon.

"I taught you everything I know. The only thing you can do is to continue practicing. I think it will be better if you do it with Alex from now on. His fighting style is different from mine and it'll be a good training for both of you." A tiny smile appeared on his lips. "Warriors who travel together learn a lot from each other in a fight. What one lack in a domain, speed, strength or technique, can be compensated by the other."

"Do you think we stand a chance against the Ra'zac?"

"It'll be difficult but if we combine our forces, yes, we have a good chance."

Alex nodded happily. It was exactly what he wanted to hear. "That's good to know, we should go to sleep, tomorrow could be a long day."

The young swordsman was about to lay on his patch of grass used as a bed when he felt something tugging at the back of his vest. He was suddenly pulled back and found himself against Saphira's belly, with Eragon on his right.

"The heck?" he said to himself, blinking and surprised by the situation.

The farmer shrugged, not knowing what to say. The blue dragoness was acting oddly lately, maybe she really wanted to be his friend. Alex decided to not question it and accepted the situation for what it was. The adolescent and the young adult settled against her warm side for the night and she dropped a wing over them. The sound of crackling fire lulled them to sleep.

The next morning, the trio had the chance to eat lunch in a small village called Fasaloft. Since travelers were becoming more frequent, the big lizard had to fly high all day and join the group at night. After riding for a few days, people confirmed them Dras-Leona was a day's ride ahead.

"There's a possibility of the city being full of spies working for the Ra'zac. We must be careful." informed Brom, in a serious tone.

"I'll leave some of my weapons at the Inn during our stay and have only my blade on me. I'll do the same with my jacket, I'm too recognizable with it…and I have to shave my beard."

"An excellent idea indeed. Do you think they know you're here?"

Alex shook his head. "Possible. They informed Galbatorix of my existence so maybe, those two expect my presence at Dras-Leona but not with you."

Finally, they arrived at their destination. The city was standing in front of them, a few leagues away. A few miles east, a dark mountain speared the sky. Brom pointed out this was Helgrind. He explained the strange worship linked to the mountain.

The swordsman clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

Very soon, all of this will be ;"Very soon, all of this will be over.