noticed Alanna was tiring, he let them finish the round they were in before he called a halt to that aspect of practice. He showed her how to remove the wards blocking her sword's edges and called over the dragons. After mounting, Eragon told his students that the dragons were now to fight, Riders to clash swords whenever they had the opportunity. He had her block the edges again before they took to the air.Alanna was so excited! Her first fight on dragonback! Actually, the whole day had turned out to be pretty exciting, but this was certainly more fun. She loved flying on Faolan and she thought the prospect of fighting another Rider on his back would be great training.Thanks to Saphira, both dragons had already had experience with fighting each other, so all Alanna had to do was hang on and wait until she had a shot at her opponent. But while her new sword had protective and enhancing wards, Faolan and Saphira did not. As a result, both suffered from scratches and bites, and every injury was physically felt by their Rider, so the entire experience wasn't very fun. But it did give Alanna and Faolan the experience of fighting together, which they'd need someday. Even though chances were slim that they'd have to fight another Rider and dragon, once the unbound eggs hatched, the Riders will have to contend with wild dragons and fight with them over territory and breeding spots.Saphira had the advantage over Faolan with sheer size, strength, more training and experience with flying with her Rider on her back. All Faolan had was his agility and the training he had already received.After an hour, Faolan was exhausted to the point where he didn't put any effort into flying, preferring to glide, though he still had to force himself to defend himself from Saphira, whom had more energy than he did.When Eragon and Saphira saw this, they called a halt to the session. Reprieved from flying, Faolan landed and curled up around his mother's paw after Alanna had dismounted. Saphira bent down and nuzzled him, earning a purr from her son.Alanna went over to her dragon to heal the bruises. Once Faolan was bruise free, she helped Eragon heal Saphira.With both dragons healed and resting, Eragon presented Alanna with a gemstone, surrounded by softened leather strips which Alanna recognized as the leather that she made Faolan's saddle from. The leather not only surrounded the gemstones, but seemed to make a sturdy necklace. There was enough leather to allow her to slip the necklace on without having to worry about a tie, which was nonexistent."Alanna, with your eyes, I thought an amethyst would be best." Eragon handed hers to her and Alanna held the gemstone up to the sun to admire it before she slipped it on. "I've also placed wards on it. From now, for as long as the necklace is on, no one except yourself will be able to see it, and no one except I or Arya can scry you. I didn't think this would be necessary now that Queen Nasuada and her Council are working to rid evil from the country, but its best to be cautious. Because its natural form is pointed, I asked King Orik to send me a shaped one.""It's beautiful, Eragon. Thank you so much." Alanna held up her necklace, which she had slipped around her neck, to admire it."But, there is a reason why I'm doing this. Gemstones like amethysts, emeralds, diamonds, sapphires and rubies are all hollow stones, which means they can hold vast amounts of energy without breaking apart from the inside. You can transfer energy from just about any source, except for fire and light, into these gemstones, energy you can use when you most need it. My father gave me this ring, Aren, and all of the energy he had stored in it throughout his life. Unfortunately, I had to use it all to sustain a spell but even in three years it's accumulated a lot of energy. I want you and Faolan to do the same with your new gemstone. Every night, before you go to bed, eat as much food as you can handle and put in as much energy as you can spare. But do so with caution. If you expel too much energy, even if it's into your gemstones, you run the risk of dying. That's why I want you to eat as much food as you can stomach. The food you eat will become energy. If you get too close to the threshold, but not close enough, the energy you get from the food will bring you back enough to wake up the next morning. If the food doesn't work in time, Faolan should be able to sense it and give you enough energy to sustain you until the food can be digested. It's another benefit to having your minds so closely linked to your dragon. Do you understand?""Yes, Eragon." Alanna half-heartedly replied, lost in the bold, crystal clear color of her amethyst."Good. Then you've done enough for today. I'll see you both tomorrow."With a final nuzzle from his mother, Faolan stood and let Alanna get into the saddle. Because they were already in Ellesmera, Faolan just trotted through the city until he got to the treehouse and he simply jumped onto his balcony. When Alanna dismounted, Faolan curled up in his bowl and waited for his dinner. Instead of turning each individual rat loose for Faolan to chase, she tossed one rat up by its tail and watched as Faolan snapped it out of the air.After Faolan's dinner, Alanna ate her fill of the salad and fruit left for her, then she got ready for bed. Before she fell asleep, however, she transferred as much energy as she dared into her amethyst and fell asleep admiring the rich purple color of the gem.
Chapter 8
Meanwhile, a figure cloaked in black roamed outside the gates of Teirm, his figure barely discernible in the darkness. The lone figure sized up the gates preventing his entrance to the city and with a few irritated clicks of his tongue he rounded a corner in the gates only to hiss at the first ray of light coming over the horizon. He turned and ran away from the light, toward his brothers and sisters, eager to report what he had found.
For the next four weeks, Alanna studied vigorously. She was always eager to clash swords with Arya or Eragon and took pride in her progress. She could fend off both Eragon and Arya for a time, but her luck never held out for long. Sometimes, Eragon would have them fight with shields, which Alanna didn't really take well to. Maybe she just needed more practice. She tried to get Eragon to let her take home a shield so she can practice with another elf at home, but he wouldn't hear of it. He said that she needed to sleep sometime and with everything she was already taking home he was afraid she already wasn't sleeping enough.When fighting on dragonback, she was starting to become more comfortable with leaving her legs loose and leaning forward to get at her opponent. Poor Faolan still suffered from some wounds, but that couldn't be helped. Around her neck, her amethyst glowed with health. She plied one of King Orik's ambassador dwarves with questions on how to care for her amethyst. The dwarf, excited an elf was showing a dwarvish interest in gemstones, happily shared his supplies with her and taught her how to make her amethyst shine with brilliance, adding to its already marvelous beauty. Her gem also glowed with health from the amounts of energy she was transferring into it every night. This gave the purple gem a light that appeared to come from the inside.Alanna's sword was also healthy. Its blade was pristine, the wards being reinforced every night to avoid the blade being marred. She had also asked Rhunon for tips on how to further care for her sword. She might have bitten off more than she could chew! It had taken Rhunon three nights to explain everything to Alanna's satisfaction.During the day, Alanna did her best to learn as much as she could. She was finally taking to being a Rider and all that the title entails. She understood the importance of her lessons and often asked to take some scrolls home for overnight study. This led to her devouring her lessons until she was much further ahead that Eragon had anticipated. She still struggled with writing certain letters of the human alphabet, but she was slowly working those out. When it came to reading, she was still in last place, but it wasn't a competition, so it didn't matter to her. Every day she was getting marginally faster and better at understanding what she was reading. That's all she cared about.Thanks to the Rimgar, Alanna quickly lost all body fat and developed enough muscles to keep her from looking like a twig. Her limbs continued to grow and she had begun to go through puberty with her chest, thighs and hips all beginning to fill out into womanly curves. Her daily sessions of the Rimgar gave her the elven grace, though she didn't know it. All of these combinations gave her a more womanly appearance that turned several male heads whenever she was in town. This she also did not see, much to the males' disappointment.Faolan was also improving dramatically. Every night he ate as many rats as he could which translated into him growing more every day until he was twice the height of his Rider. His muscles were also strengthening all the time so he no longer tired as easily as he used to. To help this along, he flew through water whenever he had the chance. He excelled at swimming and was progressing through the dragon version of the Rimgar quickly. As a result of the amount of physical work he puts in every day, his muscles grew more and more pronounced. Every limb became thicker, his chest broader, his neck long and limber. After three months of life, his body was finally becoming accustomed to the long hours of flight and training.As partners, Alanna and Faolan's mental link grew stronger. Every day, Saphira would take her pupils further from the Crags, thus testing the mental links with the Riders. Alanna could remain connected to Faolan from five leagues away and their thoughts began to merge. Due to their personalities, both cuddled whenever they had the chance, Alanna often scratching Faolan behind his jaw with Faolan curled around her. Since he was so big now, Faolan could no longer curl up at Alanna's belly and instead she was the one laying at his belly.Seeing the changes in his students, Eragon stopped by Rhunon's workshop one evening. To his delight, Rhunon proclaimed the ore ready for use.
The next day, Alanna and Faolan were both excused from studies and sent to Rhunon's workshop. When Alanna learned she would be helping Rhunon make her own Rider sword over the next few days, she was ecstatic. It was the final piece in her Rider puzzle, the key she
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