Chapter 17

"So Eragon, ready for your test?" asked Alex, while putting his shoes on.

The young Rider nodded, hanging Zar'roc to his left hip. "Yes but I'm anxious. I don't know what to expect."

"I'm sure they just want to know what you're capable of. Be it with magic or a sword. We'll be there with Saphira as a moral support or if things go wrong."

Alex strapped both of his swords on his back but let his firearms in the cave, knowing he didn't need them where they were going.

"How was your sleep? You were completely out when I came back and snoring a little."

"My little sparring match tired me more than I thought it would do but that's worth it. Be careful of Fredric, despite his height, he's really fast. There's a reason he's the one who train the soldiers."

"I'll remember it for the fight."

When the two adolescents were ready and after a very small breakfast, they both climbed on Saphira's back before leaving the dragonhold in direction of the training ground.

Fredric was patiently waiting for them to arrive. When the duo dismounted the dragoness, Alex walked to him and shook his hand, smiling.

"Not too sore from yesterday?"

The large man shrugged. "A little, and you?"

"More than you, I think. I slept the whole afternoon and night, only to wake up one hour ago."

"I see." he laughed, before turning to look at Eragon. "Hello, Rider Eragon. I'm Fredric, weapons master for the Varden and your opponent in today's swordfight. I'm eager to know what you're capable of."

"Greeting Fredric. Alex told me to be wary of you because you're a strong fighter and I'm going to follow his advice."

"And he was right to warn you but he's not so bad himself."

Both men readied themselves, their hand on their swords when they were interrupted by a commotion. The swordsman exhaled loudly as he saw the Twins approaching.

"Shit. As if they couldn't wait until it was over to show their ugly faces." he whispered to himself. Saphira growled in agreement.

When they arrived, they ignored the glares sent in their direction and talked to Eragon. "Ajihad want us to determine your knowledge in Ancient Language and magic. Your little duel will have to wait."

The trio walked in a separate corner of the room, followed by the blue lizard and the man with grey hair. Both of them stayed on the side, watching silently and carefully the explanation of the trial by the Twins.

Firstly, they tasked him with simple things like lifting a stone but met some resistance. Saphira helped him by lending her strength to him. Quickly, things became more complicated, like manipulating elements. But also, by doing this kind of trial, Eragon deduced they wanted to learn what Brom taught him of the Ancient Language. It forced Eragon to use his imagination and limit his vocabulary or whisper what he was saying to obtain the results asked.

This trial continued for a few hours until they decided to submit him to one last test. They gave him a ring and asked him to summon the essence. After several minutes of hesitation, question and consultation with Saphira, Eragon opened his mouth to say the words but was stopped by a voice.

A woman with raven hair, dark leather pants and shirt and knee high boots was walking to them. To everyone stupefaction, it was Arya. She had an expression of annoyance on her face. When she stopped in front of the two magicians, she talked again. "You should be ashamed to ask him something that only a master can do. Eragon proved he was more than capable."

She pointed a finger to the ring and said: "Arget!". A copy of the ring appeared in his hand for a few seconds before vanishing. Taking this as their cue to get away from here, the Twins ran away. The group then walked back to the middle of the training ground. A circle was formed around them. The elf withdrew her sword. "I will be your opponent for this part of your trial. Draw your blade!"

Alex walked to his friend, put a hand on his shoulder and approached his mouth to Eragon's ear to whisper him something.

"I don't want to sound pessimist but remember what Brom said about the elves: you can't defeat her in any way. She's too fast, strong and experimented compared to all of us. Try your best, use everything you learned but don't be upset if she beat you. Okay?"

The young Rider nodded. "Understood."

"Good. Now show her what you're made of!" Alex patted his shoulder a few times before stepping to the side, his attention completely directed to the duel.

Just as he adopted his fighting stance Arya rushed to him, ready to strike him in the shoulder. Eragon managed to parry the blow but barely. He retaliated, not giving her the chance to strike again. She blocked it easily. Knowing she just wanted to evaluate his fighting skills, the farmer complied and gave everything he had, his focus completely on her. Eragon used all the techniques, patterns and tips Brom and Alex taught but it wasn't enough. Finally, after half an hour, more or less, the elf knocked Zar'roc aside and put the tip of her blade against his throat.

"Good enough for me." She said, neutrally.

But before anyone could walk to Eragon to congratulate him, Arya moved her blade aside, pointing it in someone's else direction, someone with gray hair and blue eyes.

"Are you Alex?"

The young man shook his head and sighed. "Yep, it's me."

"Ajihad told me you were with Eragon during my rescue and I thank you for helping saving my life. He also asked me if it was possible to test you, saying you were a very capable fighter. I'd like to see that."

"I can attest to that." Fredric added. "This boy knows what he's doing."

Alex blushed a little at the praise and scratched the back of his head, a habit of him when he was embarrassed.

"Brom was saying the same thing but I still have a lot of work to hone my skills… anyway, you want a match? I'm going to give you one. Sword or hand-to-hand combat?"

"With a sword, of course."

"In that case, single or dual swords?"

Arya had the ghost of a smile on her face. "Let's go with the full course."

"Your choice."

The young swordsman drew his two swords and took his fighting stance. Arya did the same and waited. Everyone around them had stopped talking, all waiting in a perfect silence for the match to begin. Both of them were analyzing the other for anything that could predict the beginning of their assault. Thirty seconds passed, then a full minute and another before one of them took the first step.

Alex decided to be the one to begin the fight. He rushed at her, ready to hit her in the torso but Arya jumped back to dodge it. However, the adolescent did the same, this time preparing a vertical slash. To everyone's surprise, she stopped it with her sword and only one hand. Alex tried to push her back to gain the upper hand but she didn't bulge at all.

The elf retaliated with a stab to the side but the young man rolled away before jumping back on his feet. She went on the offensive, trying to hit him almost everywhere, alternating between slashes, swings and stabs. Alex blocked them efficiently but they were a little too close to him for his taste.

One moment, one of them was attacking while the other was protecting himself and the moment after, the roles were inversed. Alex knew he couldn't stand a single chance against her but he kept pushing on.

«It's frustrating. It's frustrating to know that despite everything I learned, I worked for, I'm going to lose. I have the discipline, techniques, and capacities to reach my goals but it's not going to be enough this time. What is even more annoying, is that if she was a human, she would still have kicked my ass. »

Less than a minute after arriving to this conclusion, Arya managed to make him cross his swords to block her attack. Then, in a quick pattern of movements, she forced the adolescent to bend his wrists in a strange way, making him lost his grip on his swords. Just like Eragon, Arya put the end of her blade right under his jaw.

"Ajihad and Fredric were right about you. You have talent and you're a good swordsman. You have passed the trial."

Some people whistled in admiration while other were patting the two adolescents on the back, praising their performance. Arya walked away from the crowd and made a small gesture with her index, indicating the place where she wanted to talk to them.

The blue dragoness urged them to go on her back so they could follow the elf as soon as possible. After a short flight, she landed on the designated hill and the duo jumped down. Arya arrived not long after them. She completely ignored the two boys and went directly to Saphira. She said something in the Ancient Language only the dragon could understand and she seemed rather pleased as she let out a deep hum.

It was Eragon who spoke next. "We're happy to see you're alive and well. We didn't know if you would make it."

"It's the reason why I'm in front of you right now. I have a debt to you and your friends. You saved my life."

"We just did what was the right thing to do." replied Alex with his hands in his pockets, stepping into the conversation. "Your life was worth all the risks and dangers we went through."

"That's why I thank you for this."

The young man presented his right hand to her, a small smile on his face. "In that case, let us begin clean. My name is Alex, twenty-one years old since a few days and Ambassador from another planet called Earth. It's a pleasure to meet you, Arya, Ambassador for the elves and Saphira's egg courier. If you're wondering how I know this, Brom told me."

The elf, her composure broken, looked at him with wide eyes.

"If you don't believe me, try to feel my mind and thoughts."

Cautious, she did exactly what he told her and was shocked to be unable to find him during her mental scan of the place. She detected the mental barriers placed around Eragon's and Saphira's minds but not Alex.

"How… how do you do this?"

"Contrary to your people, I don't have any magic in me. I can't use it and can't be affected by its effects, simple as that. However, someone can talk telepathically with me if they want to and I can reply, strange, heh?"

"Indeed. And tell me, how did you ended in Alagaësia?"

Alex took his amulet from under his shirt and showed her.

"With this little thing. The crystal embedded in it is charged with energy and a spell. A portal to another world, far, far away from here."

"This shouldn't exist, you shouldn't be here, it's breaking all the laws in magic that exists. Where did you found it?"

"I stole it to one of the Ra'zac during our fight on Earth. Galbatorix, as powerful as he may be, wasn't the one who created it… at least, that's what I think and the old man was agreeing to this theory. This is a complete mystery to all of us."

"And maybe we'll know more when some of our experts will get a look at it." finished Arya.

Then, the elf told them how she was asked to travel back and forth between Tronjheim and the Du Weldenvarden with the egg, in hope it would hatch for one those who tried their luck. The ambush all those months ago, the death of her companions, her capture and the torture in Gil'ead. She told them almost everything, only leaving the details of how they wanted to coax her into spilling the beans and tell all her secrets. All of this by using torture. Fortunately, the adolescents arrived just in time because one week later and she would have found herself in front of the king.

Eragon clearly showed his disgust of the methods used by the Empire to extract everything she knew from her mind. Alex didn't let a single emotion appear on his visage but inside, he was boiling in rage. Ever so slowly, his personal vendetta against the two monsters was transforming into a war against the Empire.

Then, after the talk, Arya left them, saying she had to make a report to the leader of the Varden about the trials. Having some free time before they would call it a day, the Rider and the swordsman thought it would be a good idea to see their friend. The latter welcome them in his room with a smile, in good shape and happy. He had the same food as the others, was sleeping soundly in a soft bed and could borrow any book from the library if he wanted to.

The three of them talked for no less than an hour, resuming the events of the last two days, the Twins, the tests and Arya.

After this, they left Murtagh alone, took a light dinner and flew back to the dragonhold. This time, the two boys went to sleep in the dais with Saphira, comfortably sprawled against her side. Little did they know that the next day would break the semblance of peace they had until now.