"You want us to... help you?" Halt raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "Why?"
"The town more than me."
"Why?" Halt repeated.
"Because you are not the only people attacking. And the others, when they come, they will destroy this town and they will come for you next."
"Is that a threat?" Thorn asked gruffly.
"It is a promise." Addiane retorted. "There is a Shade in this forest and she is ruthless. I don't know what she's after, but I know if she finds you that you will all die."
"What's a Shade?" Hal asked. He sounded more curious than skeptical, so that gave Addiane a little bit of hope.
"Shades are sorcerers that were possessed by demons that they summoned and were unable to control. It's very rare for the body involved to live through the summoning, but when they do they are terrifyingly dangerous. They're strong, fast, capable of tracking scents and seeing at night as well as any person would during the day. There's only one way to kill them and if you can't manage it, they will only return stronger than before."
"And you want us to help you kill this... Shade? We who are completely human?"
Addiane shook her head. "I want you to help us defend the town. They're hurt and starving and haven't had a proper healer here until a few days ago, and they're farmers. They know bare minimum about fighting. You're all trained."
"And who's going to deal with the Shade?"
"My mentors and I. Shades are fast and resiliant, but so are Riders. Working together, we should be able to deal with her."
"You talk about this woman as if you know her." Gilan commented. So far he'd seemed on board.
Addiane paused. "I think I do. I've been seeing her in my dreams and she seems familiar to me. I have no clue how though... I do know we will need help."
"We'll have to talk about this." Thorn said gruffly.
She nodded. "Take as much time as you need. When you decide, come to the town and lay your weapons down. Ask for me if the people you speak to do not want to listen."
"Why wouldn't you wait for us to make that decision?"
"I've got better things to do and two very powerful men with immense amounts of magic at their disposal who are worried about where I am." Addiane backed away from the group a little bit. Will raised his eyebrows, watching her carefully.
"Well then, I suppose we'll see you in the village if we accept..."
"And if we don't?" Stig asked suddenly.
Addiane narrowed her eyes at him. That was a definite threat, whether he meant it to be or not.
"Then I'll deal with you first."
Before anyone could say anything else she whirled and leapt off the cliff.
The jump to the water was more than Addiane had expected, and she immediately began to pull from her un-named power. Hopefully it would keep her from hurting herself too badly. She angled her body so that she was diving headfirst and stretched her arms out above (or below?) her head.
Hitting the water didn't hurt too much, so Addiane had to guess she did something right. She swam to the shore and dragged herself out of the water.
"You're insane."
"Did you get my things?"
Murtagh held up her sword and sword belt. He didn't look happy about it.
"Thank you. Let's get back to Eragon, I've got to tell him about those dreams and what happened."
She took her sword belt and strapped it around her waist, muttering a spell to dry herself off.
Murtagh had his arms crossed when she looked up at him.
"What?"
"Were you even thinking?"
"Excuse me?" Addiane frowned at him.
"Addiane, what if they'd tried to kill you? What if they had magic? There were so many variables that you clearly didn't think about?"
"Will and I figured it out beforehand, it was the best way to do this so that the least amount of people got hurt!"
"-and then there's that incident! You deliberately went behind mine and Eragons' backs in a way that could have been severely dangerous to us!"
"Do you really trust me that little?" Addiane demanded. "I'm trying to help!"
"Help with what? These are the people who have been raiding the village over and over!"
"Exactly!" Addiane threw her hands up. "Murtagh, Srerrafe is here! I saw her in my dream last night. We will have to fight her but she will not be alone and we need their help to keep the villagers safe because when Eragon last killed a Shade it was a fluke and he will admit that!"
"How do you know they aren't working with her?"
"I'm not stupid, Murtagh." Addiane snapped. "I know what I'm doing and I know how to read people. I helped my family sell things in the markets for years and you learn things about subtle tics that people intentionally looking for a liar could miss."
Murtagh opened his mouth to say something, but Addiane shook her head sharply, cutting him off.
"I know what I'm talking about and you can't tell me otherwise! I don't understand why you're so upset about this whole thing!"
"Because I care about you, Addiane! I don't want to see you get hurt!"
"Be that as it may, I am not a child and I can take care of myself!" She shoved past him. "I'm going to talk to Eragon and I don't care what you say, I know that what I'm doing is right."
-----
She got the same speech from Eragon. How she was reckless, how she didn't know what was happening, how she should have thought more about what she was doing and what she was giving up.
Fuming, Addiane had marched out into the back yard of Roran's house. She didn't bother to put any blocks on the sword, just drew it and began to attack an invisible opponent.
Attack. Attack. Parry. Duck. Attack. She put all of the anger and pain and terror that Srerrafe would come and they would all be slaughtered.
She imagined herself facing the impending threat. The Shade's smile was twisted and evil, and it only spurred her into fighting harder. Attack. Attack. Attack. Dodge. Parry. Counter-attack. If she was going to die fighting a supernatural force she was not going to die quietly.
Addiane broke through the figment's guard and stamped her foot on the ground heavily as she lunged forward with Naegling. She let out a yell of defiance, anger, and frustration.
As the Srerrafe-Image faded, Addiane realized she had used power to actually conjure a likeness of the Shade. Her chest was heaving from the effort, but she could feel that power she had coursing through her veins heavily and she felt as if she'd only walked up a flight of stairs.
"I told you we made the right decision."
She whirled, bringing her sword up into a defensive position.
Will already had his bow on the ground, keeping his hands clearly visible and away from the knives at his side. His companions were slowly putting their own down.
Addiane pushed away the hair that had fallen in her face, sheathing her sword slowly.
"We're here to accept your truce and see what we can do to deal with this Shade woman." Halt said.
She sighed. "Thank you... my mentors-"
"Will accept all the help we can get with this."
Eragon and Murtagh were both fully armored when they walked past Addiane, but their swords were sheathed. She hurried to follow them but felt her power leave her and nearly blacked out on the spot.
Will darted past the two older Riders and grabbed Addiane's arm, helping her stay on her feet. She leaned against him, feeling her head begin to pound.
Eragon performed a formal greeting gesture that he must have learned as a child. "I am Eragon Shadeslayer, Senior Rider. This is my half-brother, Murtagh."
"No last name." Murtagh said flatly. "I don't use it."
The group nodded, seeming to understand this. Halt stepped forward and made a gesture of greeting as well. "My name is Halt. I believe my apprentice and yours made a decision behind our backs to bring us together."
Gilan snickered and Will made an indignant noise.
"Regardless of their... insolence..." Eragon said slowly. "I think they may have had the best idea of what to do about this."
Addiane grunted and shook her head. She was feeling better now, so she pushed away from Will a little and stood up straight.
"We'll need to sit down and talk about our resources." Eragon said seriously. "If your leader and any others that might be important to the conversation would be willing to come inside, we would be able to do that."
Halt nodded and looked at Hal, but the boy shook his head.
"Thorn is our battle commander, he would know better than I do."
"All the same, you're the one with the ingenious ideas." Halt shook his head. "I'd like both of you to come with. Gilan, Will, you two as well."
"Stig, take charge. If there's somewhere we can set up..." Hal glanced at Eragon.
"The field there would work." He gestured to an empty space off to their left.
Stig turned and began to bellow orders while Eragon led the group into the building. At the door, he turned to face them.
"Addiane, stay out here."
She bristled. "You can't be serious!"
"I am. This is your consequence for doing what you did."
"Not to usurp your authority, but she seems to know the most about the threat we're facing." Halt said quietly. "I think it would be beneficial for her to be there."
Addiane crossed her arms and stared up at Eragon defiantly. He looked back impassively, but she could see cogs turning in his head.
"Fine." He said finally. "But you speak only when spoken to."
She scowled, but nodded.
They filed into the kitchen. Roran was hunched over the table, nursing what looked like a coffee. He looked up when they entered.
"Does this have to do with that nonsense Addiane pulled?"
Addiane huffed angrily. Was this how the whole thing was going to be?
Eragon nodded and gestured for the group to sit down. Everybody took seats, and Addiane ended up across from Murtagh. He was watching her very closely and she wasn't sure why.
"To begin, lets discuss your crew's capabilities. Anything that could be helpful, whether it's fighting, trapping, reconnaissance," Eragon made a 'so on and so forth' motion.
"Gilan, Will, and I are all Rangers, highly trained in undetected movement, archery, silent observation-"
"They're basically highly trained spies who work for their king." Thorn grunted. "It's considered witchcraft by many, but it has no comparison to what you are capable of."
Eragon nodded.
"The Herons are all well trained in multiple forms of combat. Most fight with swords or axes-"
"Our resident giant uses a large weapon that's essentially an ax, a spear, and a massive fish-hook." Hal put in with a grin. "He's a regular terror."
"He is." Thorn agreed.
"And do you fight?" Roran put in, eyeing the old man's hook.
"I get by." Thorn said in a tone that implied he did a bit more than that.
"Thorn was the Maktig in our country for three years in a row in our country, which has never happened before. Contestants are lucky to win once." Hal explained. "He may not look like much, but he's got a lot more to him than you'd think."
Roran grunted and got up. "Eragon, I'm leaving this in your hands. I'm going to check on Katrina and Ismira."
When he left, Eragon returned his attention to the table. "Alright, what's next."
"Lydia." Thorn said seriously. "I would never let her hear it, but the girl is wicked accurate with her little pig-sticker."
"Her atlatl." Hal translated. He seemed used to having to do so.
"And then there's the three of us." Eragon nodded. "So nine warriors, four sharp-shooters who are skilled in silent movement-"
"A Shade." Murtagh spoke up suddenly.
Everyone turned to look at him sharply.
"I thought... Addiane said the Shade was what we were fighting against...." Will said slowly.
"We are. Srerrafe, she was a Shade who worked for my father a long time ago. But Srerrafe is not the only Shade in this mountain range."
"Murtagh, who are you talking about?"
He looked across the table and everyone's eyes followed him.
Addiane frowned, sort of glancing back and forth. Everyone was staring at her.
"Wait. Me?"