A storm is brewing
After the elves and Eragon had collectively finished excavating a large pit, he promptly notified Saphira to gouge out a channel between the pit and the river. Seconds later the sound of rushing water followed, quickly filling up the pit and transforming it into a pool of tranquillity, the darkening evening sky reflecting in the stilled water. The dying rays of the sun sparkling as the surface caught the golden light that preceded the approach of dusk. He turned around to face the cohort of Elves. That marks the closure of another day, he thought wearily.
"If anyone has any objections please voice them at the end. I would like ten of the elves that were not members of my guard to attend to spells so as to protect this cave. Invidia" he said, gesturing towards the raven haired, thin-faced female elf as indication of her presence, "will oversee this task. Myself, in addition to Yaela, Blodhgarm and Aeron, all former members of my original elvish retinue, will help me in making good the cave. Finally, the remaining ten will attend to a fire and once I have fully explored the extent of this cave and given the all clear, will help unpack our supplies. Any questions?"
Silence answered, so he sent them on their way. He waited as his former guard members converged on him, anticipating a reason for their specific job. He remained in silence until they all assembled before him, and everyone had departed.
"I know the cave will be safe" he implored, whispering as to quell the chance of him being overheard over the thundering of the falls, "but I wish to construct a secret chamber to house the Eldunari, and also the riders swords. They are too important secrets to leave out in the open."
They all appraised him with a slight hint of respect, although that did not stop them from questioning his judgement.
"But, when you start doing tasks that require an inordinate amount of energy" whispered Yaela back, "will it not be troublesome to store them away here, where the density of the rock will impair the flow of energy?"
"Are you not forgetting the Eldunari that accompany Saphira at all times? They will be able to deal with most problems that we encounter. Aren" he said, lifting up his hand to show them the intricately carved ring given to him by Brom, "already has a substantial store of energy, even more than what Brom squirrelled away into it.
"You cannot hope to keep such large amounts of power contained in a single thing" warned Yaela ominously, "without attracting the attention of Spirits or other magical beings."
"There are more magical beings" he asked curiously.
"Yes, but that is a story for another time. I sense that we should start soon" she offered, indicating that the remaining light was dwindling rapidly.
"A good idea" murmured Blodhgarm throatily, as they made their way towards the cave, stepping across the wet patches of ground.
"Shadeslayer" addressed Aeron, "after we hollow out a bit of this cave, should I head a team of 3 elves and construct scrying quarters?"
"Good idea. I wish to take Blodhgarm with me tomorrow morning at first light, and I am afraid that we will not be back for several days. I will leave Yaela in charge, and she will oversee the construction of flood defences along both sides of the river bank. If she finishes before I get back, she can start working on designs for a bridge that can span the width of the river."
"Consider it done" Yaela replied, "Umaroth contacted me during your little spiel and said he wanted to talk to you when you got back to the cave, and when Saphira has finished with dealing with the Talita."
He didn't reply instead he nodded in acknowledgement, before sub-consciously ducking at the door of the cave. With a click of his fingers, he cast a glowing blue werelight. The previous gloom was dispelled by the bright light that the werelight gave off, revealing a cave full of stalactites and stalagmites. The largest of the stalactites looked large enough to sheer a full-sized elf in half.
"Those will have to go" he said to Yaela, motioning at the upright and inverted cone shaped pieces of stone, "and so will those" he added, pointing at the jagged edges of the wall.
"But that is not what we are here for" he directed, as Yaela moved to examine the walls.
They continued on to the back of the cave, every so often hearing the subtle drip of a water droplet. At last they had reached the back; at this point the light stemming from the entrance of the cave was all but inconsequential. The ethereal nature of the cave transformed the experience into one of wonder. The blue light of the werelight reflecting off the tips of the stalactites, led to his sense of depth being distorted and he almost collided with a stalagmite, having been so focused on avoiding the treacherous stalactites.
He placed a hand on the wall running perpendicular to the back of the cave, and closed his eyes. Searching through the rock with his mind for a structural weakness, at last he found one, and having accessed his source of magic, he expanded it, playing upon its integral structural weaknesses. When he opened his eyes, the elves were all doing the same thing. At last, after what seemed like ages, they opened their eyes and stepped away from the wall, before shuffling to the side as he made a pulling motion in the direction of the rock with his hands.
The rock came free with a terrible grinding sound, and after a little bit of effort on his part Nature took over, culminating in the overhead ceiling coming down with a resounding boom before them, reminiscent of his efforts to collapse the tunnels underneath Farthen Dur before the battle he thought.
Indeed, with a little work, the fake back of the cave would actually look like the original; he thought as he made towards the pocket of space which he had earmarked to serve as the entrance to the secret location. As he reached the doorway-like entrance, he placed a hand on the collapsed rock. A blue ripple of magic spread out from his hand, before curtailing at the real walls. He drew a dagger from his green belt and dragged it along the stone wall. Satisfied, he replaced it and entered their secret abode.
He stood in the entrance, examining the room with the help of the unerring rays of the werelight. With one motion of his arms the stalagmites and stalactites burst into one thousand pieces before reforming themselves mid-flight. They collected around the edges of the room, eventually forming benches which would later be used to hold the Eldunari. He noticed a significant drop in his reserves after the spell had been completed and a slight presence in his mind that meant Saphira was back. He clicked and a second incorporeal werelight appeared, hanging at the far end of the chamber and allowing him to observe his handiwork. Ringing the long chamber were five tiered layers complete with dimples in their surface to accommodate the Eldunari.
"A nice bit of magic, Shadeslayer" complimented Blodhgarm who had been observing the whole affair.
"But eventually you should be able to control simple magic with just thought and no indicative hand gestures. Yaela, Aeron and I will attend to the rest of the spells; I advise that you consult with Umaroth, Saphira having landed outside."
"Thank you" he replied, bowing as he made his way out of the chamber. He smoothed his hair back as he exited out of the pressing darkness of the cave, having extinguished his werelight when the light of the dwindling day was enough to illuminate his path. Saphira, his partner-of-heart-and-mind, was up to her usual behaviour again, doing her best to imitate a cat. Her large barbed tongue ran quickly over her scales, darting in and out of her mouth with the speed of a particularly fearsome falcon.
He spoke a few words in the ancient language and the twisted-point-of-space opened up and out floated Umaroth's Eldunari, a large egg-like object that had an inside that glowed like a coal. After murmuring a few words, the vortex closed again vanishing into an infinitesimally small point, sharp enough to cut through any ward. He directed Umaroth's Eldunari through magic, and by the light of the stars he walked across the great green grass plain, neatly bisected by a fast-flowing stream. He walked to within a throws distance of the river and then gestured magically for Umaroth's Eldunari to rest less than a metre away.
"Good evening Eragon" greeted Umaroth.
"Indeed it is, and I would wish you much the same. Have you been travelling well" he asked, as he only sporadically talked to Umaroth, whom was often immersed in the great exchanges of information between the multitudes of Eldunari.
"Yes, but before you ask any more questions Eragon, I advise you to listen. I might add that as nice as this exchange of pleasantries is, we have more important things to consider."
He nodded, but without a trace of reticence. Realising only a second too late that Umaroth could not see the gesture, but the thought must have showed in their exchange, because Umaroth continued after a slight delay.
"A while ago, just after you found us in the Vault of Souls, I mention scrying skeins of magic, am I right?"
"Yes."
"While this does not have any immediate importance, there is a practical side to this branch of magic. Just as you can explore the world with your mind, a kind of mental word if you must, you can do the same with magic. Am I right in assuming that Oromis or Glaedr did not teach you about this?"
"I am unsure as to what you mean, are you referring to the life-forces that you can detect with the use of the mind, or something else entirely?"
"Then I am right in my assumption that you do not know" responded Umaroth, "that is neither good nor bad, I need not correct any faults then. Let us get started."
Eragon signalled his assent earnestly, waiting for the lesson to start.
"With the correct application of technique and concentration, you will be able to see the trace that all magic leaves. It might be just be a hair-like thread and hidden, but you will be able to detect if you have enough aptitude with it."
"Why did Oromis not mention this" he asked.
"There are many things that Oromis did not mention and many things he didn't know. However, I think he thought that this could wait, given the inordinate amount of time and effort it takes to make the barest of progress. Even he did not progress that far with it, only Vrael mastered it and that was only because he had a much longer life than Oromis. It is also said, although I do not hold much in the matter, that only certain people can master it. As for natural talent, it comes only to the Eldunari."
"How do you propose that I am to learn this?" he asked apprehensively.
"I was just coming to that" he said, with no detectable hint of weariness as far as Eragon could tell.
"The way it was taught to Vrael by Valdr, demonstration."
"What do you mean?"
"Open your mind" Umaroth commanded, ignoring Eragon's query.
He acquiesced, but he still had to fight the urge to take control of his own mind and expel Umaroth. Umaroth delved through his mind, searching for something, successfully as it turned out. He completely took control of Eragon's mind, and with evident concentration conjured an image of a large glowing object, with wisps of white threads, like cobwebs, drifting around it. It took Eragon a second to realise that he was staring at Umaroth's Eldunari, just in a different way. After a few seconds had elapsed, the vision folded in on itself as Umaroth withdrew from his mind slightly.
"I think you get the basic premise, there is a certainly more art but this is a good start. You will know when you get it. I suggest that you start by exploring the world with your mind and then trying to implement magic into your observations. While the ability to call upon magic is essential to this skill, it is not necessary to use magic, in a conventional sense, once sufficient skill is obtained. This trait" Umaroth advised, as Eragon began to close his eyes, "is better utilised with your eyes open, in battle this might provide an edge over your opponents."
"How" asked Eragon, deeply sceptical, "am I supposed to use this in battle?"
"Magic often betrays an opponent's spells before they do them, and often subtly crafted spells can be diverted using this method. For example, this was the main method that Vrael used to battle the Forsworn."
"Would you be able to show me a demonstration of his prowess?"
"As a matter of fact, I would. We did have a few skirmishes with the Forsworn leading up to the main battle, when I was still in possession of my body. If you would like to see them, I will show you."
Eragon signalled his assent, and waited as Umaroth summoned up his memories.
'The sky shattered and heaved with the roar of dragons, the fighting was tumultuous, and streaks of magic dotted the heavens. Umaroth ducked and weaved his way through the sky, avoiding dragons big and small, singling out on a dark green lithe dragon and its dragon rider. After executing a particular tight inverted corkscrew loop, Umaroth drew level with the dragon. Vrael, was evidently in a mind battle with the rider, until the rider, whom turned out to be an elf on closer inspection, shouted out 'Hah' and raised his arm, sending out a thin crackling bolt of lightning. Umaroth swerved to avoid it, but seemed to sense the futility of the gesture. The bolt drew within an arm's reach of Umaroth's scales in a fraction of a second, for he was not wearing armour, but then stopped suddenly, as if by an unknown force.
Umaroth, whom a moment ago seemed on the verge of being mortally wounded, let out a triumphant roar. The rider whom seemed so confident before, quailed as he realised his mistake and hastily started constructing another spell, the green dragon seemed to shy away. 'A foolish mistake' said one of the deepest and calm voices Eragon had ever heard, emanating from somewhere behind Umaroth's head, which he knew where Vrael was. The lightning bolt, which periodically crackled menacingly, quickly expanded into some sort of net, enveloping rider and all, before contracting with lightning fast speed and causing to disable the pair."
The vision faded away, leaving Eragon with as many questions as he started with. Where to begin, he thought. After a moment he decided to ask all of three questions, although he itched to ask more?
"What was that battle? How is this going to help? And, what was the spell that the green rider fired off at you?"
"I only ever had the pleasure of meeting Brom a couple of times, but from what experiences I gained from him, I can tell you that you were exactly alike in your ability to think up endless questions. The green rider is Enduriel, whom you should have probably heard of, and needless to say, that was his dragon. The spell was a combination of lightning which is an easily applicable spell and a combination of dark magic, of which intent is unknown. Most likely some dark spell taught by Galbatorix. Unfortunately for Enduriel, Vrael was well versed in fighting this kind of magic and had no trouble dispatching it. Although the enslaved Eldunari did provide a little hassle in the fight, we ended up driving off the Forsworn before Galbatorix came.
As for intent, the purpouse of this memory was to show the practicality of the skill you are trying to learn. Vrael most likely never came across that particular spell of dark magic, but he was able to analyse the way it was constructed and managed to stop it" Umaroth mentioned, with a hint of pride. "To tell you myself, and I do not impart with this statement lightly nor am I biased, I am at lengths to stress how good Vrael was good at fighting."
He paused there, as if to think about something, but Eragon could not make head or tail of the pause, and Umaroth soon continued although more measuredly.
"He was good at other duties, as a rider should be, but none of the Forsworn could match him head-to-head when it came down to it. Galbatorix only managed to do so with the help of numerous Eldunari and secrets learnt from a being of pure magical essence."
He thought for a moment as he reflected on the dragons previous statements. As he did, Umaroth seemed to tense for a moment before relaxing.
"Blodhgarm has asked us to return, he says a storm is brewing."
A/N: Sorry for the extremely long wait.
Next chapter will be around two weeks' time and will constitute 3000 words. Please review
Apologies,
WBY