The Hadarac

First off, allow me to start with an apology. Reviewing this story, and trying to get reacquainted with it, I realized that "Chapter 15 (Secrets of Unknown Knowledge)" Was actually meant as Chapter 16. As a result I am posting this, it should fill in a few gaps.

Saphira's flight went by much like the night before. She traveled at a moderate pace to reserve energy so she would be able to fight if the need arrives. It was a little past mid-night when the trio landed in a secluded clearing, it was a little bigger than the last but was just as hidden, due to the thick forest and a fast moving river. After they landed, Eragon and Arya got off Saphira. While Arya gathered fire wood Eragon unstrapped the saddle off Saphira and placed it off to the side.

"You should go and hunt, it's been a couple days and you'll need your strength."

"I'm fine little one. But I appreciate your concern."

Eragon smiled at her and scratched behind her jaw causing her to hum. Arya returned not long after with a large arm full of wood. Eragon helped her build the wood into a pyramid, Arya then set on fire with magic. After tending to it until it was a hot blaze, she then sat down near it and Eragon joined her. Arya spoke first.

"So Eragon, could you tell me at how you were able to bind the spell to the fire."

"Should I tell her?"

Saphira was silent for several moments.

"Don't tell her too much. We don't know enough about her, or the elves for that matter to reveal secrets that even they don't know."

Eragon nodded and realized Arya was watching him.

"Why are you so interested in what I did?"

"Eragon, what you did shouldn't be able to be done. When someone casts a spell they are bound to the spell. You cast the spell and bound it to something other than yourself."

Eragon though for several long moments.

"Arya, I trust you, but I don't know enough about you to reveal information you don't know."

He expected her to be persistent.

"That is wise of you. I can understand why you would be reluctant. In time maybe."

"Perhaps."

They were quiet again for a little while before Arya spoke.

"Brom told me that you can control magic like no other. He also explained that it was a result of you discovering the Rider's Wrath. Could you show me?"

Eragon nodded and without saying anything, willed a sphere of fire from the fire in front of them, and held it above his palm.

"Amazing." Arya gasped

Eragon smiled, and willed the fire to cover his hand; he held it like that for several moments before putting it out by closing his hand. He looked at Arya and saw she was gaping at him.

"Does that give you an idea?"

She nodded

"Tell me Eragon, how are you able to have such concentration."

"Well the way brom described it. He said that because my bond with Saphira was already stronger than most riders, when I discovered the Riders Wrath I gained a few extra abilities than what the legends said. I was able to cast a spell with my mind with little to no effort. I also gained an instinctual understanding of the ancient language."

"I see." Was all Arya was able to say.

After a few moments of silence.

"Arya could you help me with my swords man ship?"

"Of course Argetlam."

Arya got up and moved off to the side of the fire and drew her sword. Eragon joined her a few yards away and drew his swords. Arya looked at them curiously.

"Where did you get those?"

Eragon looked at his swords.

"Do you know what these are too?"

Arya nodded

"Then all you need to know is that Brom gave them to me. Now are you ready?"

Arya shifted to defensive stance in confirmation. With speed that surprised Arya he attacked swinging for her left shoulder while using his other sword to trick her into opening her defense. She caught his ruse and stepped out of the way and blocked his other sword. Block, slash, parry, slash, block this continued for several long moments.

"Your fast."

"I'm not moving as fast as I could."

Arya spun back out of the way lowering her sword. Eragon did the same.

"Are you telling me you can move faster?" Arya said with a hint of surprise

"Yes I was holding back so Brom could teach me what I need. Although if you wish I could speed up."

Arya returned back to her defensive stance.

"Let's see how fast you are Argetlam."

Eragon grinned, and with a speed she never thought possible lunged at her. She managed to hold her own, but not much more. They spared for a little while longer until Eragon pined her blade in his swords and disarmed her. Arya bent over panting. After she caught her breath she looked to see his hand extended with her blade hilt first, she accepted her blade and sheathed it before speaking.

"How were you able to move so fast? Even our fastest elf couldn't match your speed."

"Dragon speed" was all Eragon said.

Arya nodded, and took up a defensive stance.

"Ready for round two?"

Eragon smiled and drew his swords. Unlike before Arya showed him several more forms which she adapted for use with two swords. They trained until the sun rose above the trees. Arya and Eragon then backed away from each other and Eragon bowed, in show of respect, Arya mimicked his bow.

"Thank you for showing me so much."

"I'm honored to share my knowledge with you Argetlam."

Eragon bowed his head.

"We should get some rest."

"Yes, rest sounds good"

Arya walked over to her tent while Eragon crawled under Saphira's wing. The next few days passed by like this. When officer traveled with Eragon he would tell Eragon more of the empire secrets. Eragon was astonished with how many watch towers the empire had, and Eragon would never have expected it. When Arya traveled with him she would train him in swordsmanship. He began to feel strange when he was around her, whenever he saw her, his face would get hot and he felt a strong tingling in the pit of his stomach, and slowly she started to open up to him, telling more about herself and the elves, he enjoyed traveling with Arya the most of the two. It was day number four now, he was sitting by the fire with everyone else discussing the next day's plan.

"How are we going to cross the desert? We don't have enough water."

"We need to think of an idea. Arya what do you think."

"Well brom, there are always ways to find water."

"But in the dessert? We'll be lucky if we find a drop."

"Come now, Eragon. Like Arya pointed out there's always a way.

"Saphira, what do you think?"

"I think we need to find a way to get what's already there."

"Hmmmm." That gave Eragon an idea

"What is it Eragon?"

"Nothing Brom Saphira gave me an idea."

He bent down and examined the ground in front of him.

"Eragon wha…"

He stopped Arya with a wave of his hand.

"Let me think."

He looked at the ground in front of him. He was aware of everyone staring at him. He made the hole deeper and bigger, he saw the ground was moist and then it hit him. He smiled at his ignorance, and muttered.

"Adurna reisa."

He watched as water filled the hole to the top, before he ended the spell. He looked back to the crowd.

"This is our solution." He gestured to the water in front of him.

"Eragon that's not nearly enough water for everyone to cross the desert."

Eragon laughed at his comment

"Oh, but is officer." Everyone looked at him confused except Arya she knew what he was thinking.

"You see, as long as there's water in the ground, I can use magic to raise it to the surface." He finished by pointing at the puddle at his feet.

He looked around and saw that everyone was deep in thought even the troops. Brom spoke first.

"This might actually be possible. Eragon will you be able to do this when needed?"

"I should be able to, and if not I could draw from Saphira." He looked over to her; she nodded her head in agreement. "Or Arya could."

"Then its settled, we cross the Hadarac Desert!" exclaimed Officer.

Eragon now spoke

"Aye that it is. Now get some rest we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, if we want to reach the desert by Evening." Eragon watched as everyone clambered to their feet and went off to sleep. Eragon waited until only Brom, Arya, and Officer were left sitting by the fire. He looked over to Saphira.

"Want to go flying?"

"Is that really a good idea? We would be better off staying with the group, then flying ahead."

Eragon rolled his eyes

"I mean, let's go have some fun. We haven't flown together since leaving the farm."

He felt Saphira's pleasure at flying with him, so he knew that was a yes.

"Saphira and I are going flying; we'll be back later on tonight."

Before anyone could protest he leapt up and ran over to her. He flung himself on her back not caring about the saddle, he then casted a ward that would protect his legs from her scale, he then gripped her large neck spike and braced as she leapt into the air. She climbed through the air until the fire was lost in the night where she leveled out and glided from rising warm air. It was beautiful, the moon was the fullest he's ever seen it casted eerie shadows across the world, Saphira drifted to the right and caught a vent of warm air before she spoke.

"How do you feel about Arya?"

"I like her, I like her a lot."

"That's not saying much Eragon."

"Fine. I think I might love her. Whenever I'm around her face grows warm and I get a strong tingling in the pit of my stomach, I love the way she looks at me, even if she hides her emotions."

Saphira sighed. They spent the rest of the flight in a blissful silence, marveling in each other's presence. Finaly, sometime after mid-night Saphira made her way back to camp. After a little while she spotted the glow form the coals, luckily someone didn't put them out; she glided down slowly and landed with little noise. Eragon gently slid off her back, and waited as she curled up before settling down next to her belly. Saphira didn't go to sleep though, she watched as Eragon drifted further into sleep, when she was sure he was fully asleep she started thinking to herself.

"Oh Eragon only if I could tell you how I truly feel about you. But if I told you, you would think is disgusting, I know how much you love Arya, and I'll stand by you. Only if you knew, if you knew how I felt what would you say?"

Saphira ponder this until she was overcome with exhaustion and surrendered to sleep. The next morning she was greeted by the morning sun shining over the tree tops, the morning sun warming her scaly face, unintentionally falling back to sleep. The next time she woke up it was because the troops were packing up and preparing to leave for the desert.

"Good morning Saphira. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes Eragon I did."

"That's good. Are you ready for today?"

She stretch out flexing all her muscles and yawned.

"Yes Eragon, I am."

"Good, we should be off soon."

Eragon walked over to the saddles and brought them over to Saphira. A few moments later he had all the straps tightly secured, giving one last tug on the straps he climbed up Saphira's left foreleg and settled on the saddle.

"Arya, Saphira and I will meet you by the edge of the desert later on today."

"Very well Argetlam"

"Come on Saphira lets have some fun."

"If you say so."

Saphira lunged into the air while performing a corkscrew, then sharply angling south while gaining altitude. Once high enough, to look like a large bird from the ground she leveled out and slowed her pace.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!"

Saphira chuckled deep in her chest. She spent the rest of the flight gliding from one warm air vent to another, she wanted to be with Eragon as long as possible before Arya arrived and dew all his attention away from her.

"This is nice Saphira."

"I'm glad that you relaxing on this leisurely flight."

Eragon bent over and patted her neck.

"I'm glad we have this time to ourselves."

Saphira let out a snort of satisfaction. It was well after mid-day when they arrived at the edge of the Hadarac Desert, Eragon was stunned by shock and awe at seer massiveness of it. As far as the eye could see was yellowish gold sand, which was occasionally blown around in a spiral by a gust of wind. Even Saphira was shocked by the sight.

"Saphira, have you ever seen such a sight?"

"No. It's so massive."

"Aye that it is."

After a few moments Eragon shook himself.

"We should find a place to land."

Saphira started searching the land scape for a place to land. She found a secluded area hidden by sand dunes, she angled towards it and prepared to land. Once on the ground Eragon took of Saphira's saddle and placed wards around the area that rendered them invisible to everyone except Arya and the others.

"When was the last time you went hunting?"

"A couple days ago, why?"

"I've never traveled through the desert so I don't know what type of game there'll be."

"I see. Well then I'll go hunting. See you in a while."

"Have fun."

Eragon watched as Saphira leapt into the sky and angle towards the forest. Once she was out of sight he decided to go hunting and see what he could find, it didn't take him long to find a small group of deer, he dispatched two bucks with one of the death words. While looking around he found some wild potatoes, carrots, and some other various vegetables and herbs, he wanted to make so thing nice for Arya. After he was finished foraging he went back and retrieved the two deer, he casted a spell that would cause them to float in the air then another that would cause them to follow him. After a brief walk he arrived back to the camp, after he dropped the two deer he looked around and realized something, no fire wood. Thinking of what he could do an idea came to him. "It just might work." He thought to himself. He used his mind to sift through the sand until he found several medium sized stones, he then raised them with magic and arranged them in an oval. He then went ahead and using the hot sand and the suns heat to compress the thermal energy into a fire in the stone oval he then made it so the fire would use its own heat to fuel it, so that it would keep it's self going, he then set the deer rotating above it much like before. He then got to work on Arya's meal he made a smaller stone circle and put a magic fire in it. He started by boiling water and adding various herbs and some of the vegetables. After the soup was done he set the rest of the vegetables floating above the boiling soup, practically steaming them. it wasn't long until Saphira arrived back.

"Welcome back. How was your hunt?"

"It was satisfactory, I found two bucks. I'm not sure how long it will take to cross the desert so I ate more than what I usually do."

"Sounds like a good idea."

Then it dawned of Eragon, the wards he placed renders him and any other within the wards invisible, but it doesn't stop the light, so he augmented the wards to block the light from being seen anyone other than Arya and the others.