Chapter XVII
Akarclio
The day after Tobascco had left, I found Felvëra walking down one of the streets.
"Felvëra!" I called out.
"Oh, Amber, I heard you were back, so nice to see you once more."
"Nice to see you too, and I found out my sword's power."
"And that is."
"If you say adurna to it the blade freezes the water and puts ice at the tip of the blade, and if I touch it onto anything when it's frozen it will turn that to ice. It can also freeze things with five-inch thick ice, but the sword is the only thing that can break it and it shatters the ice as if it were a centimeter thick."
"Amazing, I've never seen one like that, may I see it?"
I handed Felvëra my sword, she looked at it her eyes content on its blade.
"How do you activate it?"
"Here I'll show you," I said taking my sword back and making the tip barely touching the ground, "adurna!"
The blade froze midway down, then, a bright flash of ice-blue light illuminated the ground. This surprised me and Felvëra so much that we both were slipping and falling on the five-inch thick ice that was covering the whole ground.
"See, even though I barely had it touching the ground, but it still froze five inches thick."
"Well, can you…you know?"
"Oh, yeah, right."
I slammed my sword's blade into the five-inch thick ice, and it shattered like glass."
Felvëra stood up and brushed ice shards out of her blonde hair and her off her dress. She almost resembled Arya, but with blonde hair not black.
"Well, never in my fifty years of making and discovering Rider's swords have I ever seen one like that!"
I had almost forgotten that Felvëra was a lot older than she looked, she looked in her early twenties, but really she was at least one hundred years old.
"And," she started again in a more serious tone, "getting serious, it is one of the legendary swords."
"What! Amazing, my sword is legendary!"
"Yes, even when I made that sword, never did I imagine it being the legendary Akarclio sword."
"Akarclio?"
"Yes, Akarclio, Ice Wonder's sword."
"Amazing!'
"Yes, also when you freeze large bodies of water, say a lake, when your enemies are chasing you, you can say light stop you and your dragon will go right through it, but they will crash into it like a brick wall."
"And it won't break?"
"No the ice won't break but for three things, and I think they will all be for your benefit. The first the sword, the second, you, the third, your dragon."
"And nothing else?"
"N… four things, the fourth being Brisingr -Eragon's sword- but only when it is lit."
We talked about different things, then it hit me.
"Felvëra, you know how Brisingr reacts when Eragon says brisingr, what does mine react to?"
"Yours reacts to two things, one-you have already learned that- adurna, the second, is used for magic blocks it is the phrase 'Akarclio set forth your winter's warp!' That is all."
"Whoa that's…"
A huge crack of thunder cut me off, and directed our attention to the giant ominous black clouds overhead.
"Amber, come on, we must get out of here!"
Felvëra grabbed my hand, and pulled me along toward her house. Just as we were five feet from the door an eerie flash of lightning struck the ground and me.
I was immediately struck to the ground, but I only felt it for a second before the lightning took its toll and I was knocked out. The same darkness surrounded me on all sides. I soon saw a vision of Arilia.
Oh look it works, and quite well too.
What works? I asked getting a bit scared.
You know how when you sleep your heart rate slows?
Yes, why do you care?
Because, thanks to my curse, now whenever you sleep your heart will stop.
I nearly gasped, but then I realized I had no reason to be scared of her curse.
Ha! Your plan has one little flaw, I am an elf so I don't sleep, your curse won't work.
Oh did I say 'only when you sleep', she said in a taunting tone, Well your heart rate slows when you are knocked out too, so I guess I still win!
She gave a harsh laugh that reminded me of Durza's, but she stopped as a deafening roar cut her off. Then, with a scared expression she disappeared from my view.
After she had gone I realized an unbearable pain in my chest. The pain was so intense that I could barely breathe, which is not normal for an elf, so naturally I was petrified. What was even worse is that I saw the same swirling blackness I saw when I was healing Friciey, then I realized I was breathing so softly I would stop soon.
Just a few seconds later the same roar issued, but this time it was followed by a blinding silver light. The light illuminated the darkness, and returned me, slowly, to my body. As soon as I regained conciseness the first thing I felt was the pelting rain against my skin.
"Amber, please wake up, come on!" I heard Arya pleading.
"Is she…" I heard Christal ask.
"No," I was surprised when Felvëra interrupted, "she is breathing, very softly, but she is breathing."
I slowly opened my eyes.
"Amber!" Arya cried, throwing her arms around me.
"What happened?" I said not remembering five minutes before the lightning struck me.
"Well we were running to beat the storm when you got struck by lightning," said Felvëra.
"Well, I know I'm Eragon's sister because we are both bad luck magnets," I said, then realized I probably shouldn't have.
"Amber, you're Eragon's s…s….sister!" stammered Christal.
"Yes, Christal, I am Eragon's sister."
"How long have you known."
"The past month or so."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Well you were always near Ellestygia, and I didn't want her to know, at least not yet."
"Why won't you tell her?"
"Because she'll be way too protective of me."
"You know you can't keep this from her forever, she'll fin out sooner or later, and when she does she won't be happy."
"I know I can't."
"Enough you two, we need to get inside before someone gets struck by lightning," said Arya.
We went our separate ways, Felvëra went back to her house and Arya, Christal, and I went back to our house. We ate then went to bed, and I fell into my waking dreams very fast.
Chapter XVIII
Secrets Are Confessed
The next morning I found Ellestygia standing in front of Christal.
"Hey, what's up?" I asked.
"'What's up'!" yelled Christal, "I'm sure your life depends on near death experiences!"
I agree! said Ellestygia.
"Amber, I don't want to know how many more times you will get by until you are killed!"
"I know, I don't either, but I've been thinking about a lesson even I should learn. It's that you should never keep secrets from anyone because death can be a surprise and if you die with that secret you may be keeping a part of your life and someone else life from them."
That is a good lesson, Amber, but I think I might not get it right.
Right then I knew fate had carried me to this moment, I knew what I must do.
"Okay take Brom for example. He kept a secret from me and Eragon, in-which stayed secret because he died not telling us, until someone else told us, the secret that we are his children.
It felt like a ten-minute pause as Ellestygia caught on.
AMBER! she yelled, why did you keep it from me?
Because you would be over-protective of me because I'm important being Eragon's sister.
You are important to me, Eragon's sister or not, she said softly.
Thanks, but you don't have to lie.
It's not lying, it's just truth, she said, but anyway you told me, but who told you?
Arya, after I passed out the first time after we meet Christal, I saw a vision of her, and I was thinking about letting myself die because I thought I wasn't important then she told me.
"Yes", came a voice, "and I'll don't regret it now, and probably never will."
It was Arya.
"Arya, I'll never forget you saving me from that horrible Shade."
"A SHADE!" yelled Christal and Ellestygia together.
"Yes, Arilia, Durza's sister," Arya and I said.
"Durza's SISTER!" they yelled.
"Yes."
"Oh, wonderful," said Christal.
"Okay, Christal, I need you to come with me, I have someone you need to meet.'
"Who?"
"You'll see."
We soon arrived at our destination: Felvëra's house. Lucky for us it was an overcast day, and the long walk wasn't too terribly bad. I started to knock on the door.
"Felvëra!" I called.
Felvëra soon appeared at the door wearing a torn and dirty work dress.
"Amber, are you feeling better, and what brings you here?"
"I feel a lot better, thanks, and I came because of her," I said dropping my voice low at the last part.
"Oh, she's the newest Rider, let me guess she needs a sword?"
"You got it."
"Are you going to train her? You know my mother's rules."
"Yes, I will make sure I teach her everything."
Felvëra stepped closer to me then whispered in my ear,
"She's the Rider, but where's her dragon?"
"That's just it, she needs a sword even more because her dragon was killed, by Thorn, protecting us," I whispered back.
"Oh dear that's horrible, what was his name?"
"Friciey."
"What was his color?"
"Red-black mix."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Okay, I will make her a sword, but will you come in for a while, so I can get to know her?"
"Sure, Christal, come in so you can meet Felvëra."
Christal walked through the door after Felvëra, then I followed.
We ended up talking for over an hour about several things, one of which was about Christal coming from Teirm. Then we heard what sounded like a miniature explosion.
"What was that?" asked Christal in a scared tone.
"I don't know, but let's go see," said Felvëra.
We ran outside and the first thing I saw was Ellestygia's face.
Amber, no time to explain, get on!
"Christal, stay with Felvëra, don't follow!"
"But, what if…"
"Just stay here!" I said as Ellestygia left the ground.
As soon as Ellestygia was in the air high enough I saw that it was Cyindr, with Zoey atop her, who had caused the explosion.
Ellestygia, you have an advantage, your fire, Cyindr is not old enough yet, I said before I could think.
Amber it's not about age, it's about if they are one yet, I mean it was only months before we linked. For all we now she could be.
But think about Thorn and Saphira, Saphira waited months before she hatched for Eragon so she would know who she was hatching for, and by doing so she got closer to Eragon. Thorn hatched as soon as he chose Murtagh so he wasn't close to Murtagh when he hatched, unlike Saphira, I said.
Ellestygia jerked to the side as Cyindr dove for her.
See what I mean, if she could breathe fire she wouldn't have dove for you!
We evaded every dive they dealt, and they likewise with our dives. Finally, the two dragons dove at the same time, and collided with their front claws interlocked. A loud crack of thunder sounded the start of the pouring rain.
Neither Ellestygia nor Cyindr would slack their grip they had on each other, no one was winning.
"Kvistr!" I commanded.
Branches from all around Cyindr tightly wrapped themselves around Cyindr's four legs and neck, pulling her down to the tree tops. Before we could recover I heard a faint cry, "Losna!" from Zoey.
The branches holding Cyindr loosened and she gave a giant flap of her wings. She rammed right into Ellestygia's side, knocking us out of the sky. She hit the ground so hard I was, with much force, thrown from her back. I hit the ground as Ellestygia's tail and hind legs flipped over the front of her, putting her neck under pressure. When I stopped tumbling I saw that Ellestygia was stuck on her back her wings fully stretched out on either side of her. I knew she weighed to much to get up by herself, but as I ran to her I noticed her right side was bleeding. I got to her side, but I was hit in the side by a condensed orb of air. I was thrown my back ramming up against a tree. I fell to the ground, and saw Zoey walk toward me her red hair plastered to her neck by the pelting rain. She looked very eerie with her sword drawn, dirt all over her, and a cut from the branches that ran all the way down her arm.
"Look who we have here, Amber, and her little helpless dragon," she said looking over to Ellestygia, who was desperately trying to get up.
Zoey started to talk on, but I wasn't listening to her, I was too busy whispering, "Akarclio, set forth your winter's warp."
I slowly slid the sword out of its sheath.
"How do you know my name, Zoey?"
"I happen to have the greatest dragon and Rider teachers, Murtagh and Thorn. Wait how do you know my name?"
"I happen to have the greatest dragon and Rider teachers, Eragon and Saphira," I said mocking what she had said.
She talked on, then all in one quick movement, before Zoey knew what was happening I got up and touched the tip of my sword to Zoey's boot. A blue line, that was darker than my sword, ran down the middle of the blade. The line was like a blue snake and in a slithering movement it went around her legs. Then the line turned to ice that blocked Zoey's legs, shins and down, in five-inch thick ice.
"Now what were you saying?" I asked, as she franticly tried to free herself of the magical ice.
"How did you do that?" she asked.
"It's a little thing I like to call a real Rider's sword."
I ran back to Ellestygia who was breathing heavily being crushed by her own weight. I used a spell to help her up on her feet, but as soon as she tried to stand her legs buckled and she fell down on her stomach.
"Are you okay?"
I…I think I'll live, she said.
"Let me heal your leg, waíse heill!" I commanded.
The blue light flashed and receded, and I let the magic go. Ellestygia rose to her feet without a sign of the chaos that was just there. Seeing that Ellestygia was okay, I walked back to Zoey who was still unsuccessfully trying to free herself.
"That will never work, but this might," I said cutting Akarclio's blade into the ice. The ice shattered like glass, and before Zoey could move, "Malthinae!" I commanded.
Zoey was bound in place by the magic, and couldn't do anything.
"Let me guess, Murtagh is to good to teach counter spells."
"Stop talking about him like that!"
"Make me." I probably shouldn't have said that because out of nowhere Cyindr jumped toward me. I was going to die if she hit me.
Before Cyindr could even get close to me, there was a shrill whinny, and I saw what looked like a fire red horse with wings, covered in trailing flames. It flew right between Cyindr and me, catching the ground between us on fire. The flames rose in seconds to be about seventeen feet tall. The flames were like a wall and threw Cyindr back twenty feet. I stayed clear of the flaming horse, and Cyindr tried to fly above the wall of flames to get to her Rider. The flames just kept rising higher and Cyindr gave up. The flaming horse looked straight into my eyes.
Amber? came a familiar conscious.
"Tobascco is that you?"
Yes, and I know what you're thinking, but I'm what they call Burthro abr du Istalri.
"That means you are born of the Flame, but why didn't you tell me?"
Well I didn't exactly know too well.
"It's okay, I'm not mad at you."
I then noticed that the flames on her were jumping off and returning to the fire wall, and Tobascco was returning to her normal strawberry-brown color, as her wings tucked into her sides disappearing.
I turned to Zoey as the fire wall died out, "Eitha orono eka wilae taune onr lifa."
Zoey looked at Cyindr with fear spread across her face, then ran full out to Cyindr and jumped on her back. Cyindr gave a huge flap of her wings and flew off as fast as she could, or so it seemed. Tobascco turned to me.
What did you tell her?
"I told her 'go or I will take your life'."
Amber, came a voice, are they gone?
It was Ellestygia, and she still looked frightened and weak.
"Yes, they're gone, but that wasn't the last we'll see of them I fear."
You are right they'll be back, but they are still… started Tobascco.
"Oh, my sweet Alagaësia, who was that!" yelled Christal cutting Tobascco off.
"That was Zoey and Cyindr."
"Where did they come from?"
"Urû'baen, where else… wait Tobascco you said you couldn't see Galbatorix 'because of the...' did you mean…"
Yes, but I knocked Christal out so she still doesn't know.
"Know what?" asked Christal sounding annoyed.
"Know exactly what you shouldn't know."
"What?"
"Exactly."
"Forget it ,Amber, now I was thinking about that egg and…"
"Amber!" came a yell from behind me, it was Arya, "Amber, you have got to come quickly!"
"What, what's wrong?"
"Just come, quick!" she said running back toward to where we lived. I ran after her Ellestygia and Christal following in close pursuit.
We ran through the house and up into my room. There was what had made Arya so frantic, the silver egg was hatching.