DragonInk (Eragon Writing Competition)

Rond Three: Entries

*Eran

The night sly was clear. The stars were shining like diamonds and the moon was completely full. It was extremely silent. Most of the elves were asleep and me, well, I was bored out of my brains. That night I was on guard duty, for half the night! Sure the other's had to do the same thing but it wasn't like I could do anything about it.

I was in one of the elven halls, which was made out of mostly wood. I was at a door guarding Eldanuri, or that's what I thought they were called. They were supposably the dragon's heart of hearts. When Aloth explained them to me I was at a complete loss and hardly listened during the lesson.

I sat down on the floor and drew my Draumr, my sword. I placed a little bit of energy into the diamond in the pommel then sat back against the wooden wall. It was oak, I think.

For the past few weeks really nothing had happened, since that poison breathing Fanghur anyway. I had asked the elves about it but they were just confused at it as me. I was thinking something along the lines of the Fanhur had been living on Vroengard, and was affected by the poisonous air there.

The training had gotten more intense, and I was actually training with other riders. In sword training I was mostly pitted against an elf named Lana. She was amazing with a sword, to say the least. I hadn't beaten her yet, but I was determined to. There was also Adurnea, who I was often in dragon classes with, like flying manoeuvres and the like.

I sighed, then remembered something. Lana was the next on duty. There was something about her that was... different from the rest. What it was I couldn't tell yet, but I like it.

'Hey, Farran, you still awake,' I said with my mind, trying to link to Farran.

There was no reply. He was definitely fast asleep. I took a couple of swings with my sword, imagining there was an invisible enemy there. I blocked an imaginary sword stroke then quickly stabbed under the guard.

"Nice job," said a voice from behind me.

I spun around to see a person standing there, shrouded in a dark cloak.

"Who are you?" I said with a frown.

"Who I am isn't important. What's in that room is," said the figure.

It was definitely feminine, and from the posture I think it was an elf. I narrowed my eyes.

"What do you want?" I snarled at her.

"You, out of my way," she replied.

"Oh yeah, bring it on," I said.

Suddenly a gigantic, mental, pressure hit my mind shield. I gasped in surprise, and the shield didn't last that long. The elf invaded my mind. I cried out in pain, then felt the blackness hit me hard in the face.

I woke up suddenly, groaning. There were about twenty voices in the room, all talking quickly. They all went quite. I looked up to see Ayra, Aloth, Lana, and a few others.

"He's awake!" someone said.

'Well da,' I thought in m head, 'But what happened?'

'I'll tell you what happened,' said the booming mental voice of Farran, 'You were attacked by an elf. She broke your mind and knocked you unconscious before running off with one of the Eldanuri.'

'What!' I said with surprise, jumping up.

"Hey, take it easy," said someone else.

I looked over to the voice, realising it was Aloth. He walked over to me and put his hand on my head, muttering something in the ancient language.