Chapter VII: Magic

|| Dream ||

As I left the village behind me, I couldn't help but feel depressed. I had learnt my Mother had died, and I left Istal behind in a friend's hands. Istal was too young to be out on the road and be used in battle. The encounter with the wolves had taught me that. I hoped that Istal would allow himself to be ridden and trained, however I doubted it.

I sighed and debated what to do, there was very little to do. I mentally made a list of what was happening to me.

I'm on the run from the empire, my family is dead, Istal is injured and left behind, I'm injured, I have a bow with arrows and a sword, somewhere there's a dragon in the Spine, I have no idea what I'm doing.

I nodded to myself at my list. All in all it summed up my situation. What to do, what to do? I thought to myself. I stopped and looked into the forest, the Spine. There were many stories surrounding the Spine, it was a place feared by many if not all.

A smirk formed on my face, a place that's feared? A place that no one goes deep into? Sounds like the perfect place to hide. I pulled my bag, filled with provisions and anything else I might need, higher on my shoulder so it was more comfortable.

I entered the Spine with my head held high. I would not cower in fear of what could be in the forest. Something in me also wished to run into the forest and find... something. My mother's words about the dragon came to mind briefly before I shook it from my head.

I entered the forest, my bow strung and held tightly in my hand. I started trekking through the forest quietly, imagining that my twin sister was hiding somewhere. A tear fell from my eye as I thought of my twin. She's dead, I told myself harshly, no crying. She'd love to see you this soft, I told myself.

I let out a soft laugh. I'm now talking to myself. I thought, how ridiculous. I spotted a small trail through some bushes and paused wondering what the trail led. I knew that the path would be used by either predators or prey, presumably, leading to prey or a safe clearing.

I started following the trail, moving slowly so my presence wouldn't be detected. I came to a halt as the path stopped, having led to a thicket of trees. I pushed through the branches and bushes, gaining a few scratches along my face, arms, and legs.

Finally, I managed to enter what the trees had been hiding: a clearing. The clearing stood underneath a small cliff which if I could probably climb down. There was a small waterfall tumbling into a small spring.

A smile appeared on my face, I had found my safe haven.

***

The purple dragon flapped its wings lazily and surveyed the landscape below it once again. The dragon snorted as it glided lower to the treetops. The branches ruffled the beast's belly and the dragon yawned.

A voice seemed to speak out as the dragon continued gliding, only flapping its wings when it was about to crash into a tree. "There's a dragon out there Umaroth, your mother was right. You need to stick with Eragon and Saphira, do whatever you can to help them. They mean you no harm," the voice said.

For the fourth time during my recent dreams, I became aware of my body... or my conscious. Whatever was allowing me to witness what was happened.

"Who- Who are you?" I questioned, my voice came out disjointed, and it felt so unnatural to speak.

"We are on your side however you may not know of us till much later, the time is not now. Just know that whatever happens no dragon is alone."

"What- What do you mean? Can you not speak in riddles?"

A laugh filled my ears and head, "Calm yourself Umaroth, remember your namesake. And if you lose yourself just call the name of the dragon."

The voice seemed to start fading out along with the image of a dark purple dragon flying. "Wait!" I screamed out, "How am I supposed to know the name?"

|| End Dream ||

When I woke up I quickly stretched, noting I was the first one up I got the fire going again. With a sigh I started prepping breakfast when the two woke up they helped themselves. We were all tired and stressed I could tell, the journey was starting to take its toll on us.

***

Brom's laughter startled me out of my daydreaming start, "The language used to use magic does have a name. But no one knows it. It would be a word of incredible power, something by which you could control the entire language and those who use it. People have long searched for it, but no one has found it."

"What if you said the word mentally or something?" I asked, finding the information interesting.

"No, it still wouldn't work, you'd have complete and utter control over the language." Brom said, twisting in his saddle to look back at me.

"Are there any other ways to cast magic? Like... I don't know, by not saying the word mentally or out loud but knowing what you wanted and it working? Maybe through emotions?"

"Impossible," Brom said answering my question, "There are no other ways to use magic."

"So, in essence, if that happened, we'd all be stuffed." I summarised before sinking back into my daydreaming as Eragon moved the conversation back onto how magic works.

I shoved myself into awareness as I felt myself drift off. Eragon had a small stone in his palm and was chanting something. I nudged Istal to get him to walk next to Brom. "What's he doing?" I asked point to Eragon.

"Magic," Brom answered gruffly.

"Would I ever need to know the language? Granted I would never be able to use it, but surely there has to be something worthwhile about it." I asked.

"Want a history lesson on it?" Brom asked sounding amused.

I shrugged, "It'll give me something to do at least."

"Very well, the language used to use magic is known as the Ancient Language. It was once used throughout Alagaësia by all being. Later on it was only used by elves and very few humans. However dwarves used it to crown their king, but only in that one moment. It was the language of the Grey Folk."

"Grey Folk?" I questioned interrupting Brom's lesson on the history of the language.

Brom scowled at me, "You wanted history on the Ancient Language and so you are getting that. Ask questions at the end, understand?"

I nodded and Brom continued, "Each word of the Ancient Language was linked to an act of magic. Therefore the more words and knowledge you had of the Ancient Language, the more magic you knew. For those who had the most experience in magic they could even use non-verbal manipulation. Which, is like what you said earlier, saying the words mentally in your head. However this is extremely dangerous and everyone was, and is, advised against it."

"Why?" Brom glared at me and I lowered my gaze to the floor, squeaking out a feeble sorry.

"It's dangerous because it holds more power than verbally speaking the spell. And because If you do say it mentally as if a thought interrupts your spell it can cause a lot of destruction, normally ending in death." Brom continued onwards, briefly pausing to take a large breath. "You cannot lie in the Ancient Language, it is impossible. However, you can twist your words into saying something but meaning something else. Elves happen to do this as they only speak in the Ancient Language."

Brom stopped speaking and looked at me, I took that as my cue to ask questions. "What about names in the Ancient Language?"

"Eragon asked the exact same question," Brom said his eyes seeming to smile. "Names in the Ancient Language are called true names. Knowing someone's true name is a source of power and control. Anyone knowing the true name of someone can control it."

"Does that mean everything in the Ancient Language is the true name which is why it can be used in magic?"

"More or less," Brom said, "Now as you said you wanted to learn some words. Stenr means stone, reisa means rise, brisingr means fire, skulblaka means dragon, moi means stop and adurna means water. Learn those for now," I nodded and sighed knowing that it would be a long ride that day.

Soon Brom decided to it became late and time to stop for the night. The moment Eragon got off he made to throw the stone away however Brom stopped him from doing so. Eragon glared at Brom, and I figured it was best to stay away from the ill-tempered boy.

I quickly untacked Istal who happily went to the river for a drink, I then attacked Brom's horse as it was quite difficult to untack a horse one handed. As we ate Brom told us some more words in the Ancient Language. He told us about delois and Aiedail and many more.

I took my time repeating the words over and over in my head, my mouth forming the words as if to say them. As Eragon and Brom attacked I tried to figure out the pattern to Brom's attacks. I soon came to the realisation that Brom was unpredictable and followed no set pattern.

After Brom stopped fighting Eragon, Eragon went to go sit by the fire. Taking my position, I warily got up and picked up Eragon's stick.

I nervously got up holding the make-shift sword in my left hand, Brom also had his sword in his left hand. Then Brom struck, I sidestepped and leapt forward, bringing my sword down in an overhead cut.

Brom easily deflected my attack and I parried his stick away from my torso. I grinned as I thought of different patterns to use. I thrust my stick forward before changing the direction of my lunge to Brom's right leg.

Brom managed to easily parry my thrust and I quickly tried to land a blow to his side. As Brom parried it, I whirled around and while turning swapped the stick to my other hand. I then brought my hands together so you couldn't tell which hand my make shift sword was in.

I tried to attack Brom's left shoulder only to be deflected, quicker than I thought I could. I brought the sword back to my side only to attack his left side where his ribs were. I managed to land a blow, I staggered back as Brom's sword just glanced off my left right shoulder.

I rolled my shoulders and charged in, we continued are striking match. I started making my blows heavier as Brom did the same. Brom managed to land a heavy blow to my wrist and I let out a cry and dropped my stick. As my foot slid under the stick to flick into the air, Brom put his stick under my throat.

I stepped back, my breath coming quick and fast. "Well done," Brom said, I grinned as I turned to go to sleep knowing that I had just earned high praise from Brom.

***

For the next few nights I had no dreams and the days settled into a blurred pattern. Every day Eragon would try to manipulate the pebble and learn some more words from the Ancient Language. I, on the other hand, would learn a total of ten words each day and try to learn them. In the morning Brom would quiz me on my current knowledge.

I also started practising archery at morning and at night, my skill had fallen due to not being practised for a while but I soon started to get back to my normal skill. My practise with the bow and arrow soon became too easy and I would travel along the river with Istal and try to hit some fish. It was hard work and I never achieved it however I kept getting closer and closer to my goal of getting one.

Not only did my archery improve but so did my sparring with Brom. Brom soon made Eragon and I spar in the morning for a few minutes. However it would be against Brom that we both tried our best. I noticed Eragon had gained confidence and speed but no only that his blows were heavier, his defence better.

Eragon was not the only one who grew stronger, as I grew stronger I started to practise holding my sword in each hand for an hour a day to get my muscles used to it. Every so often I would increase how long I would hold it.

Istal soon became a constant companion, we grew to remember everything we had been taught and trained to do. Every so often we would go through fight manoeuvres and training techniques to improve our bond. At times I felt like we were one and would almost know each other's thoughts as well as we knew our own.

Istal's endurance and stamina had risen to a good level and I took to racing him along the river. At times Istal, with me riding, would swim in the Ninor river against the current.

As we continued tracking the Ra'zac, Eragon opened up to me more and Brom seemed to start trusting me. I started trusting my companions as well and decided that I would always do my best to help them. Sometimes I felt like we should give up tracking the Ra'zac as there would be no marks until everyone seemed willing to give up.

Saphira grew as well, becoming much taller than the horses and longer as well. Due to her size and sparkling scales, Brom, Eragon and I often worried about her safety as she was too visible. However she wouldn't allow anyone to cover her scales in dirt.

Then one day, we spotted Daret in the near distance, the first village we had seen since Yazauc.

Purple Dragon in the picture