Eragon the sequel

Meet the Guide

"Where will we be meeting Evander?" I asked.

"He sent a messenger to me earlier who said to come meet him in the sparing field when we are ready." Arya said cheerfully.

"Best not keep him waiting," I replied.

When we reached the sparing field Arya recognized him immediately. He was aiming a blue tinted bow at a target. He let the string roll off his fingers and sent the arrow at the target at a faster speed then my eyes could track. The arrow hit dead center of the target and stuck out the other side. He had red and orange hair; his skin was more pale then most elves. He had hazel eyes and one of them had more red then the other. He whore a very light blue chain mail chest piece with a built in quiver.

"Nice shot Evander," Arya said cheerfully. "So I see you came to see me and you brought a friend with you," Evander said in a rather monotone voice as he slung his bow over his shoulder.

"I am Eragon Shade Slayer and leader of the riders," I introduced myself.

"Ya I know who you are. Now Eragon Are you going to stand there or are you going to duel me? I don't want to be working for somebody who I know I can't trust to live through an ambush. And you know it's kinda fun,"he said excitedly.

Saphira, who had been listening to our entire conversation, piped up and said, "Maybe you could knock him down a peg or two. What do you think?"

"I think I can do it. Just keep quiet in the fight, ok?" I replied.

"As long as it's only a friendly duel, ok?" I said.

"Of course. Now move to a good distance and magic guard your sword. When we are ready Arya will count us down," he said excitedly.

I moved to a good distance and readied my sword, making sure to dull it so it wouldn't kill anyone.  He did the same, only to my surprise he readied two swords and stood in his stance. He looked very composed and at the same time very agile.

" Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Fight!" Arya yelled excitedly.

Evander launched forward and leaped into the air. He came down swinging his right and left swords from his left side. When he hit my sword I shuddered at the pure strength of the slash.  That almost got to me but I managed to hold my block when I deflected his swords. He went with them and landed beside me. He was prepared to strike as soon as he landed.  He tried to use his right sword to slash me but I managed to block it. I didn't realize that he thrust his left sword at the same time towards my gut. I didn't have enough time to react and he landed the stab but of course he only taped on where he landed the stab and said, "Dead!" It didn't hurt but it surprised me when I realized I had already lost when I didn't even get a chance to try and strike.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" I asked, still surprised from how he fought just now.

"After my parents died and I left I took two swords with me for protection but since then I switched swords and now use swords that I made. Before I left I was the apprentice of the most skilled blacksmith in all of Du Welden and I have been practicing with two swords since then," he said in a monotone voice.

"Wow! I have never seen anything like that. I am glad to have you fighting at my side. Maybe we could work together more after this is over. I may need help training if somebody wants two instead of one sword," I said happily.

"Maybe, but I don't think many people will want this fighting style. It's by far the hardest to learn because I invented it, but if you find any duel wielders I would gladly teach them. One major drawback to using this fighting style is not being able to use a shield," Evander said in his monotone voice.

Arya, who had been quiet all this time, said, "That would be a huge drawback to anyone who doesn't have a fast enough reaction time to dodge an attack. You can't block arrows that would pass your wards."

"Precisely," Evander said.

"Thanks for the duel but Arya and I have some other things to take care of so may the stars watch over you Evander,"I said happily.

"And you Eragon Shade Slayer and Arya Shade Slayer," Evander said.

We turned and started walking back to the hall.