Shadow of a Shade

Chapter Two

Eragon was at the next week of practices, always watching and never speaking or engaging (other than the obvious mental conversations he was having with Blödgharm). At first he had made the training Dragon Riders uneasy, as they expected him to get involved, but so far nothing had happened.

Addiane trudged onto the field, rubbing her eyes. Nyriem had gotten her back for the past couple of early mornings, and she was practically dead on her feet, but that would go away as soon as they started training for the morning.

Ghola was checking over her sword, sitting on a nearby bench. Badez and Seirye were nearby as well.

Addiane was about to make a sarcastic comment to Seirye about losing track of her brother again, but a hand over her mouth stopped her suddenly.

"Stop moving."

For a moment, the gruff voice terrified her, then the gears kicked into place and Addiane rolled her eyes, bringing the heel of her foot down on her attacker's toes.

Samblar yelped in pain and let go of her. Addiane noted the pair of shears in his hands and quickly checked her braid.

Since elves could not have red hair, Samblar often joked that he was going to cut off Addiane's hair to study it, and see how it became red. Once in a while he'd show up with a shears or grab her braid and produce a knife from some random fold of his clothing, but he never followed through.

He probably knew that Addiane would punch him if he did.

"I am not in the mood, Sam." She snapped once she had ensured herself that nothing had happened to her hair. He laughed.

"Bad morning?"

"You try sleeping soundly when Phaervu decides to sing some stupid old sailor's song about sea birds with ruffled feathers."

Samblar chuckled. "Phaervu refuses to sing, so I doubt that will ever be a problem."

Addiane started to respond, but bit her tongue when the spellcasters joined them on the field. She glanced over to where Eragon stood, a habit that she had unfortunately developed in the past week, and was surprised to see the place empty.

The other training Riders suddenly stood straighter and Addiane returned her gaze to the spellcasters, wondering what they'd seen.

She met Eragon's eyes and stiffened, quickly rearranging her posture into one of attention.

He didn't say anything, and Blödgharm started the practice as usual, checking blades and equipment.

Once they had finished his chosen level of the Rimgar, he began to assign them to each other. Addiane was surprised to hear that she was to fight Seirye first, and her fingers twitched nervously.

What surprised all of them was when Blödgharm informed Badez that he would be sparring against Eragon himself. The Shadeslayer stepped forward, adjusting the lightweight armor he was wearing.

Addiane felt a small flash of pride as he snapped his fingers to block the edge of his blade. She was the only one of the training Dragon Riders who did the same.

Blödgharm clapped his hands and they scrambled into motion, pairing off and moving away from each other to give each bout enough space. Seirye curled her lip at Addiane and stalked to the far end of the training field, forcing the human Rider to follow her.

The elves positioned themselves throughout the field to watch, and their leader whistled.

Addiane would have liked to watch how her Urgal colleague dealt with the Shadeslayer's master swordplay, but she was not going to give Seirye the satisfaction of besting her so quickly. She set her face in a snarl and clashed with the she-elf again and again.