Inheritance III: The Third Rider
Disclaimer: Eragon, Eldest, and the entire Inheritance series do not belong to me. Nor do its characters. Don't sue me, and thank you.

Chapter Five
The Dragon Thief

Three dragons flew in the distance. Blue, Red, and Green. A battle was beneath them. Above was a black sea of birds, waiting patiently for the battle to end. Suddenly, there was a roar, from the green rider. The Green Rider, with a familiar weapon in one hand, and a green blade on the other. He seemed strangely familiar. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a gray haired magician proclaimed his name, killing a thousand men with one spell. The Green Rider shouted something to the magician. His voice was filled with surprise.

Suddenly the magician looked up. The Rider was thrown off his Dragon, hurtling down at the ground. Suddenly, the field was overcome with darkness.

"Father..."

Eragon opened his eyes. He was lying on a bed, which showed the signs that he had been flailing and rolling around. He sighed slightly, scratching his chin. Annoyed by it, he realized that he had had another one of those dreams. "What use do I have of them, if I only realize what they mean when I experience them?" said Eragon, out loud. Suddenly, a cough could be heard. Eragon sat up, looking around the room, spotting Edoc'sil.

"Where am I?" he asked. Suddenly, he felt his memories come back. He had received a wound from the Ra'zac. He looked under his tunic, to find that his wound was gone.

"Farthen Dûr," replied Edoc'sil. "I managed to get the Sethr oil out of your system in time, before it could go deeper. You would not have fallen unconscious, if you were not muttering words in the ancient language."

"What?" said a dumbstruck Rider. "What words did I use?"

"I was told that you spoke words from the ancient language that you used to remove a blessing from a child," grunted Edoc'sil. Suddenly, he laughed. "Eragon Shadeslayer, I suggest you let your dragon speak with you, you are worrying her."

He quickly lowered his barriers. The Rider felt guilty that he had not allowed Saphira to talk to him. Little one, you almost gave me a heart attack, she said, her voice filled with worry. Why did you that again? You remember how much energy that took from you?

I pray for your forgiveness, Saphira, I was not conscious of myself. Eragon looked out of the window of the room, to find a great blue eye staring at him.

Angela said that you should not use magic for a while. Apparently, if you do, events will repeat themselves.

But why? Why would this happen?

The werecat, Solembum, has also told me that lifting the curse from Elva may have cost you quite a bit of damage. It won't last, I was told, you'll be healed soon. However, her voice gave away her doubt.

Eragon shook his head, and placed his head back onto his pillow. "How long was I asleep?"

"About three weeks." Eragon could feel Edoc'sil eying him carefully. "We had to let Saphira fly you out of there as quickly as possible. Naturally, she took you here. Seemed to think the witch, Angela, might be able to help you."

Eragon mumbled something. Then he allowed himself to shift through his own memories. He realized with a jolt, that Edoc'sil had used a Rider's blade during the battle. "It was Brom's."

Eragon widened his eyes. "What!"

Edoc'sil whispered, "Sleep. All will be explained. You seem too tired now." The Rider continued asking Edoc'sil, but when he failed to reply to him, he dropped off to sleep.

The next day, Eragon felt refreshed. He awoke to find a note placed on a table.

I will be in the training grounds, it said. If you still wish to speak to me, meet me there. Edoc'sil.

Eragon put on the breeches and tunic that were on the table. He found that a blue cloak had been put in with his clothes. Shrugging, he put it on, and wandered about Tronjheim. There were little humans now, but the dwarves were dressed in black. He realized that Hrothgar's funeral may have already passed. To test his fears, he asked one of the dwarves.

"Not yet. Orik has told us to wait for you. Supposedly, Hrothgar would have liked you to attend his funeral."

The Rider thanked him, and decided to go and meet Edoc'sil. He was interested, after all. So it was, after half an hour, Eragon found himself in the training grounds facing Edoc'sil. The blue-haired elf grinned at him. "I haven't had sparred recently," he said. "I want to test my skills against you, Shadeslayer."

So it was, Eragon and Edoc'sil drew their blue blades. They bent their backs in a bow, before shifting into their battle stances. The two attacked each other together, their blades meeting and sending out blue sparks. Suddenly, the dwarves stopped what they were doing and formed a circle around the two combatants, watching excitedly. Eragon noticed that he had gotten more skilled at the sword since he fought with the Ra'zac. Edoc'sil was surprised by Eragon's power too. However, as they soon found out, try as they might, they could not even touch each other. They were equally matched, just like Eragon was with Murtagh, so long ago, when they had first met. Eragon reflected upon this, sadly.

After a while, both of them disarmed each other. Edoc'sil placed two fingers on his lips. "Atra esterní ono thelduin."

Eragon did likewise, saying, "Mor'ranr lífa unin hjarta onr."

"Un du evarnínya ono varda," Edoc'sil finished. "In all my times, I have never fought anyone who has the same skill as you, save a few. You have proven yourself worthy."

"I thank you," Eragon said. He brought back their two blades, and handed Edoc'sil his. The dwarves were still murmuring their amazement. Out of the crowd stepped up Orik. "Knurlheim, you've been sleeping for three weeks!" growled the dwarf. "I have had to endure torment from our king-to-be."

Eragon smiled, bowing to Orik. "Who might that be?"

Orik gave a deep-throated laugh. "Only I, as Hrothgar's heir, knows who that is. And no, it is not me. The clans decided who should be king, and they did not find me qualified."

"Shame, you would of made a great leader."

"Ah, personally, I'm glad I am not king. Too much responsibility, my lad."

Eragon laughed, and Orik left the training grounds. Soon, the dwarves returned to their posts, sparring against each other. Edoc'sil beckoned to Eragon with a twitch of his forefinger, and he followed the elf. He led him to his own room. Eragon was surprised to see that it was filled with many fairths: one of Brom, what seemed to be Ilirea before the Fall, and then, Urû'baen, Ilirea after the Fall. There were many others he could not recognize.

Edoc'sil followed Eragon's gaze. "Do you like my collection? I made them myself."

Eragon smiled. "They are very nice, Edoc'sil-elda."

"Take a seat, this will be a long explanation." The elf pointed at a seat in front of a warm fire. He sat down on a seat directly in front of it. Eragon took his seat, and waited for Edoc'sil to begin.

There was a certain silence for a few minutes. Edoc'sil was fingering the pommel of Brom's sword. "This is Skölir. Shield. Brom named it so. He lost it during the battle where his dragon died. It was taken by Galbatorix ... and stored in his weaponry room."

Eragon gave him a curious glance. "So how could you have gained it?"

"I once sneaked into the castle of Galbatorix," he said. "I suppose you have heard of the origin of Saphira's egg?"

"So, you are the thief?" Eragon said, bewildered.

Edoc'sil sighed. "Yes, I was. It was a great challenge for me, and I barely escaped alive. I suppose you would want me to recite the story?"

"Of course, if you can."

Edoc'sil paused for a moment, before beginning. "I was born a hundred years before the Fall. I remember that time quite well. It was a time of happiness. The elves were not hiding in Du Weldenvarden. They were roaming free around Alagaësia. Dwarves, humans, and elves lived together in peace. The Urgals were only a slight problem. Riders ensured that the people of Alagaësia had peaceful, profitable lives. Then, of course came the fall. The elves retreated into Du Weldenvarden. The dwarves disappeared, hidden in their own cities. And the humans believed that they were only fairy tales.

"You know all of this, of course. You also know that Galbatorix had three Dragon eggs in his possession. He was trying to get them to hatch. They stayed the way they were for nearly a century. That was when I came into the picture. Brom and Jeod had found a secret way into Urû'baen. They showed it to the elves, and they accepted it. I volunteered to be the thief.

"Now, the secret way was a tunnel, leading from Teirm to Urû'baen's castle. It apparently existed from the time of the Riders. I was amazed that it was still there, without any maintenance. However, I soon found that some parts of the tunnel were caved in. Those proved hard for me at some points, but I managed to get by. It took me five days and four nights to reach the castle. I was on foot, knowing that horses would not help me at this point."

"That was a surprisingly short time, from Teirm to Urû'baen," interrupted Eragon.

"I was in a hurry, I suppose. In any case, I found that the tunnel reached into the castle's weaponry. I found this blade and took it, not knowing its origins. I searched around the castle, not allowing anyone to spot me. I did not kill any guard, knowing that they would find out that they had intruders. After two days of restless searching, I found the King's treasury. You had to speak 'open' in the ancient language, and I knew that Galbatorix would not expect his guards to know anything of the ancient language.

"There were three eggs. I wanted to take them all, but faint voices forced me to take Saphira's egg quickly, and exit the treasury. However, the guards saw that the room was open, and they knew they had an intruder. I ran away, but they managed to corner me. I was thrown in jail. Galbatorix was going to come and see me, but I could not allow that to happen. However, try as I might, I could not get out of my cell. They did not know I had the egg, though.

"Just when I was getting hopeless, I found a little boy visiting me. His name was Murtagh."

"Murtagh!" exclaimed Eragon.

"Yes, Murtagh. He was barely old enough, yet you could see that he had faced many hardships. He gave me a potion, telling me it would help. I drank it, and found that it was an antidote for the drug they used against me. I thanked him. I knew that I had no time, and so I sent th egg to the elves immediately. Later, I found that I had missed it and it landed in Gil'ead. I escaped and was captured again, unfortunately. The boy came back again, and gave me the potion again. I suppose he was persistent. I managed to run away, but not before retrieving my blade.

"I came to the elves, and for the past fifteen years, I lived there. That is my story."

Eragon bowed to Edoc'sil. "I thank you for stealing the egg, or Saphira would not have hatched for me."

Edoc'sil bowed his head.

The Rider then smiled. "Any chance we could do it again?"

Edoc'sil looked up, confused.

Author's Note:

Ah, hoped you liked this one too.

I thank you very much reviewers and reviewers to be.

Well, Brom got killed, didn't he? He assumed wrong.

YAY, even longer than the last chapter.