“Focus Logan,” said Eragon, standing only three metres away and watching with the intense gaze of a well-learned teacher.

Logan took a deep breath, glaring at his opponent in front of him. He felt as though his heart was trying to beet its way out of his chest. Kuldr was held in his shaking grasp as he clasped the handle; rearranging his grip a few times trying to find a better grip in his sweat polished hands.

Trixie stared right back at him; the only sign of her wariness the gleaming sweat coming from her face as well. The two duellists circled each other slowly, trying to judge each other’s next move. Trixie stepped on an uneven piece of ground, causing the slightest loss of balance, and Logan attacked. There was a brief clang of steel against steel. The white sword Hvitdraumr flew into the air, landing on the ground some distance away.

Logan quickly flicked his sword to her neck and smiled at her, “Dead.”

She glared at him, before moving with a whirl of movement. Her foot connected with his shin causing him to gasp in pain and momentarily loose sight off Trixie. The next thing he knew a sword was pressed against the back of his neck causing him to shudder slightly.  

“That’s enough,” stated Eragon.

Trixie kept the sword on Logan’s neck a few seconds longer before she stepped back and placed it in the sheath. Logan took a step back as well and glared at her. She glared back. Eragon stepped in between them, knowing about the small rivalry that was between the two riders.

“You both did well,” he said looking at the two, “But Logan you need to focus more on your… well focus and Trixie you need to work on studying your surroundings, and being able to keep your balance on any terrain.”

Logan nodded slightly before walking out of the room, slightly enraged. He cast a quick healing spell on his bruised shin before hurrying down the corridors. He had only arrived at dragon rider valley about a week ago, and since then Eragon and the elves that lived their had been putting them through rigorous training sessions, from magic to swordsmanship to mind battling and dragon riding.

Logan was fine with the training, but it seemed to him that he was constantly under watch, and it was annoying him. Every so often there was a movement in the corner of his eye, or a dragon circling ‘randomly’ over head. Logan didn’t know the exact reason why but he had a fare idea. Lately there had been many sightings of shades around the area, and because he had had dealing with shades in the past, especially one, they were weary that he may be attacked. It was probably the reason he wasn’t able to concentrate as much as he would have liked to.

With a sigh he turned the corner, and looked back to see if anyone was following him. Sure that no one was he pulled a letter out of his pocket. It had been left in his room that morning. He opened it and read it once more.

‘Logan

This is urgent. Meet me at the fifth corridor to the right of the sparring room. Come alone and don’t even let Sashi know of this.

Sincerely Torik’

He frowned at the name. Torik was the name of the dwarf he had met just before he had left to Eragon’s valley. He was a strange dwarf, very old and a huge backpack full of weapons he didn’t really need. They had only talked for a few minutes but He had come to understand that this dwarf wasn’t all that he seemed. He had said they would talk again but he didn’t know when. Now it seemed they would finally get to talk properly.

He stuffed the letter back in the pocket of his pale green tunic and readjusted his sword on his waste. He leaned against the wall and let out a yawn. He waited for a few minutes for the dwarf to come.

Eventually he let out a sigh, maybe it had been a prank pulled by one of the other dragon riders. There were probably around a hundred there. The way it was organised was a bit like a school. There were different times people had to be at different places and doing certain things. Eragon taught swordsmanship and dragon riding, his two favourite classes, mostly because he liked Eragon. The two seemed to get on well.

He shook his head and sighed, {‘My thoughts wonder to much.’}

{‘That they do,’} replied the all to familiar voice of his favourite golden dragon, {‘What exactly are you doing Logan?’}

He quickly hid his location from her, {‘Oh nothing, just relaxing after a hard sparring lesson.’}

{‘You never relax after sparring lessons,’} Sashi shot back, {‘You’re always still up and about, maybe meditating. What’s up?}

{Nothing Sashi, I just got kicked in the shin by ‘you know who’ and am now resting.’}

{‘I don’t believe you for a second. Come on Logan, tell me. You are my human after all.’}

Logan heard a noise coming from the inside of the wall and frowned, taking a step back, {‘Sorry Sashi, have to go.’}

He quickly closed off his bond to his dragon, although he could still sense her frustration. She briefly tried to gain entrance to his mind but gave up when it became obvious Logan wasn’t going to open to her.

Logan watched in amazement as the section of the wall that he had just been leaning on slid back revealing some sought of hidden passage way. Looking around to see if anyone heard. No one did. He walked into the passageway, his hand on his sheathed sword, ready to draw it at the slightest sign of danger. Once he had passed into the passageway the hidden door behind him closed with a solid thump.

The startled prince jumped and turned, drawing his sword. He swore when he saw that the door had closed and thumped it with his fist. It didn’t open. He took a step back and put out his hand.

“Jeida!” he yelled.

The golden Gedwey Ignasia on his palm lit up as the magic flew through him. The loss of energy astounded him as he tried to break through the door. Stopping it he slumped to the floor, exhausted. With a sigh he rejuvenated himself with energy from the crystal in the hilt of his sword, before getting up and turning down into the passageway.

{‘I guess there is no way but forward,’} he thought, then put out his hand and cast a spell, “Garjzla!”

A small glowing orb floated from his hand and aligned itself a few metres in front of him, casting a dull glow through cave. With great caution Logan continued through the cave, the light always a few metres ahead.

After what seemed like hours of walking he saw a light at the end of the tunnel. He smiled and quickly distinguished the light with a word before jogging towards the end. He still kept his sword at the ready as he exited into a small potion of forest. Shielding his eyes from the sudden glare of the sun he looked around the small clearing, and spotted who he was searching for.

“Torik?” he said.

The dwarf smiled at him. With the absence of his pack Torik looked like a much smaller being, besides of cause the great sword strapped to his back. He was wearing bush clothing that was a mixture of different browns and he wasn’t wearing gloves like the last time the two of them had met.

“Well met Logan, rider off the golden palm,” said Torik with a small dip of his head.

“Well met,” replied Logan, looking around at the place they were in.

It was a rather small clearing. As far as Logan could tell they were in the middle of the forest that shared the valley with Dragon Rider Academy. They used the woods a lot for many different things such as hunting, low flying, and meditating. Logan hoped none of the meditating riders found them so far out.

As if reading his mind Torik said, “This place is far from where your fellow riders train. The only one that could possibly spread his mind out this far would be Eragon, and he doesn’t meditate until late, so we have time.”

Logan turned his attention to him as he spoke, “So why did you call me? And now that I think of it, how did you find this place?”

“I was getting to that,” said Torik with a smile, “As for how I got here, I have my ways.”

Logan frowned, not liking when information was withheld for him, “Okay, so what do you want with me.”

Torik grew serious, “You are in grave danger Logan. I assume you have all heard of the numerous shade sightings around this small mountains range.”

The prince nodded his head. All the riders had heard about the shades and had been told never to leave the academy unless told ad with another trainee and dragon. Not even a shade could hope to go against two dragons and their riders.

“Well they are here because they are after something, or more specifically someone.”

“Are they after me? Is Kazra the reason they are here?” asked Logan.

“Well yes, and yes, though they are more after Sashi then you,” he replied.

Logan let out an annoyed sigh, he used to be incredibly afraid of shades but now through all the recent sightings he was beginning to see them as a nuisance. Sure he had no doubt that one could defeat him in a fight but he really didn’t have time to worry about the right now.

“Why is he even after Sashi anyway?” said Logan, “It’s not as if she can change her rider. She hatched and bonded to me. That makes it impossible to choose another… right?”

Torik looked away with a sigh.

“Right?” repeated Logan.

Torik looked back at him, “That is so with a normal dragon rider bond. Once a dragon has made his or her choice, they can’t change it. However when it comes to a wild dragon making a bond with a rider… well, the wild dragon does have the choice to severe the bond and go with another, or go by themselves.” He held up his hand to stop Logan from arguing, “You may not like it but it is true. Kazra wants to force Sashi to severe her bond with you and join him.”

The knew information hit Logan like a brick, and he took a step back, “Does Sashi know this?”

“About her ability to severe the bond, yes, I assume she does,” he replied.

“But Sashi would never do that right?” Logan said to the dwarf.

Torik nodded, “It is very rare for a wild dragon to take on a rider, but it is even rarer for the bond to be severed. Of the three wild riders it has happened once, and the consequences were ghastly.”

Logan nodded and took a big sigh of relief, clearing his head. Suddenly realising something he looked towards the dwarf with a frown, “How do you know all this?”

Torik studied him for a second, “I have my ways.”

“Don’t tell me that I want to know,” replied Logan, “For all I know it could be all lies. I only just met you and already your telling me there is a possibility I may loose my dragon to another.”

Torik narrowed his eyes and thrust his hand up to Logan, revealing an ugly looking swelling on his palm, “This used to be golden.”

Logan’s eyes widened, and he looked down at his own golden palm then back at the dwarf, “You were a wild rider?”

Torik nodded his head, “Yes, I was.”

“Your dragon severed the bond,” said Logan, realisation coming to him.

Torik laughed and shook his head, “No, I wasn’t that misfortunate. My dragon was slain by the shade called Kazra the first. That is why I am here, to make sure that something like this will never happen again. “

This shocked the young prince as well as he thought about what the dwarf had said, “Why?”

“Because it couldn’t have my dragon itself,” he replied, “It wanted revenge.”

“For what?”

“First of all I want you to tell me what you know of the shade.”

Logan thought for a second, “Well, he is extremely powerful, powerful enough to hold down a dragon. He want’s to become Sashi’s rider. I assume he was the first shade to ever live, thus his name, and probably the most powerful shade to live as well, and I’m pretty sure he was once an elf.”

“Anything else?”

Logan shook his head.

“Well you were right in that information. He is the first shade to ever be created and yes he was an elf. One thing you may not know is the person he was before he became a shade was the third wild rider.”

Logan opened his mouth, “What?”

“Kazra was the first wild rider,” replied Torik, “In fact, he was the first rider ever. The first one to make such an important bond to a dragon. The first one to think of them as a friend and ally.”

“Wait, that would mean that Kazra the first, is…” said the prince, a little horrified.

Torik nodded his head, “Yes Logan, Kazra the first is Eragon, the first rider of dragons and the first wild rider.”

Something hard slammed into his mind. It took him a moment or two to realise that it was Sashi. Quickly hiding what he had just learned he hesitantly opened his mind to the wild dragon.

{‘Yes?’} he said.

{‘WHERE ARE YOU! I’ve looked everywhere for you. I even went so far as to ask Trixie where you are, not that it helped much. But seriously Logan, where are you?’} yelled the dragon.

{‘I’m fine,’} replied Logan, {‘I just decided to go for a walk.’}

She snorted, {‘Yeah right. You better hurry back because Blodhrgam is extremely angry you missed out on your rider’s history lesson, and to be frank I was two. I like that class.’}

{‘Okay, sorry, I just needed to clear my head,’} he lied, trying to get her off his back, {‘I’ll be back soon, just wait for me.’}

{‘Fine, but hurry or I’ll personally fly over there and pick you up and fly you all the way back,’} she said.

Logan acknowledged this and looked at Torik, “I have to go.”

Torik nodded his head, “We’ll speak again. Go through the secret passage. The password to open the door is Kraav’”

Logan nodded his head, thinking that the word was just a word of the dwarf language. He sprinted down through the small passageway and towards the Dragon Rider Academy. Once he was there he opened and closed the door at the end before sprinting to his next class.

He arrived out of breath and sat down with the rest of the riders, Blodhrgam narrowing his eyes at him when he saw him. Logan quickly explained his apology to his teacher before taking a deep breath, ready to get through the rest of the day.

The rest of the day went by extremely slowly, and a lot of the time Logan found himself drifting back to the conversation he had had with Torik. Kazra the first was Eragon the first rider. Logan wondered what had made him become a shade in the first page. With a sigh he decided to worry about it later.

That night, after a good shouting from Sashi, he fell to sleep under he wing. His two blades were rested beside him. His golden blade Kuldr and his father’s sword. The one that glowed with immense power. He wondered if it had to do with if spirits were nearby. With a shrug he leaned against his dragon’s side and fell to sleep.

What woke him first was the deep thrumming sound of something vibrating. He groaned as a small amount of light seemed to enter through Sashi’s wing. Rubbing his eyes he looked around for the source of the light and startled with surprise when he saw that it was his fathers sword.

Hesitantly he picked it up, and was instantly flooded with energy. He sleepiness was gone.

{‘Sashi,’} he whispered into his dragon’s mind, {‘Sashi wake up.’}

The form of the golden dragon beside him shifted slightly and her belly rumbled, yet she still didn’t wake.

{‘Sashi!’} he hissed into her mind, {‘If you don’t wake up now I’ll poke you through a gap in your scales.’}

There was a groan and Sashi’s wing opened, revealing her head looking down at him, {‘What is…’} she saw the glowing sword, {‘What’s wrong?’}

Logan shrugged and looked towards the door for his room that lead into the corridors. Every time his sword had glowed something dangerous was near, and by the amount of energy he was receiving from the sword he guessed it was quite powerful. The two of them waited, ready for anything that might have been able to attack them. For almost ten minutes they waited, before the light of sword died down until no light shone at all. They both stared at the sword, surprised.

{‘Maybe it was a false alarm?’} questioned Sashi.

Logan shrugged, {‘Whatever it is, it’s gone now.’}

Sashi sighed and lay down, quickly going back to sleep. Logan stayed awake for a while, studying the sword. Eventually he set it aside; maybe it had been a false alarm. He slowly sunk into the darkness of sleep once more.

* * *

That morning a rustle of movement woke him. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes, {‘Morning Sashi.’}

{‘Morning prince,’} replied the golden dragon getting up and stretching like a cat.

He smiled and got to his feet, stretching also. He grabbed his outa garments and pulled them on, followed by his sword belt and weapons. He walked over to Sashi’s head and gave her a small scratch under the chin. She purred slightly before looking towards the door.

{‘Someone’s coming,’} she said.

Sure enough there came a knock on the door. Frowning Logan walked over to it. It wasn’t often someone went into a rider’s room, especially when there was a sleeping dragon that didn’t want to be woken. He opened it and was surprised to find one of the elves standing there with an exhausted look on her face.

“Yes?” he asked.

“All riders are to meet at the hall, hurry,” she said, before rushing to the next riders room.

Logan looked back at Sashi with a confused look. She shrugged, just as confused as he was. He looked through down the hallway to see the other riders slowly coming out of their various rooms and making there way down to main hall. He looked back at Sashi.

{‘Go, I’ll listen through your mind,’} she said.

He nodded and walked out of the room and towards the hall. He was joined by a few other riders, including Aelia. He flashed a smile towards her and she did the same.

“What’s happening, do you know?” he asked her.

She shrugged, “I’m just as confused as everyone else.”

They made there way into the hall with the rest of the riders. It was a large hall designed to hold at least a dozen full sized dragons, or a few hundred riders. Because there were only a hundred dragon riders there, they were a rather small group in the large building.

To the side was the large blue form of Saphira. An elf was with her and they seemed to be talking. She had an extremely forlorn look on her face, for a dragon anyway. He looked back at Aelia, and she just shook his head. Maybe something had happened to Eragon?

Everyone became quite as Blodhrgam stood up at the front of the crowd. His usually glossy wolf coat lacked the shine it usually did and he also had a distraught look on his face.

“Riders, it is with great regret that I inform you that last night someone or something stole into the castle and… took Eragon,” he said.

A murmuring swept through the crowd of riders. Logan’s eyes narrowed as his mind wondered back to the night before when his sword had glowed, warning him of the danger that was just around the bend.

“We will be sending out search parties for him but until then this place will be under extreme lockdown. No one will be allowed in or out until such a time that Eragon is found,” he stated.

The murmuring swept up again until it became a roar. Everyone was talking at once. Blodhrgam was standing at the front trying to get everyone’s attention but it wasn’t working. Suddenly a huge roar sounded through the room causing everyone to jump and look to the source. Saphira had stood up from where she had been mourning and was now looking over the crowd. Logan felt her spread her mind into his and everyone else’s.

{‘My rider has been taken and you are all acting like fools,’} she snarled, {‘Now be quite and let the elf speak.’}

She retreated from them and lay down again, her body shuddering slightly. The crowd turned their attention to Blodhrgam once again, no one daring to say a word after what Saphira had just said.

“Now,” said Blodhrgam, knowing he had there full attention, “Before I dismiss you all, is their anything you would like to ask.”

Logan took a big breath, “Sir, I think I know how to find him.”

Everyone’s gaze turned to Logan, and he looked back at them. He felt no nervousness at being in front of such a large crowd, he had done it plenty of times back in his home town.

“Please enlighten us,” said Blodhram.

He thought about where to start, “I have a… device, that lights up when spirits are near, I think. And last night it woke me up with a fierce glow. I think I can use it to find him.”

Blodhrgam narrowed his eyes, “Why haven’t you told us of this before?”

“Because there hasn’t been the need,” replied Logan, “But I think I can find whatever took him, be it shade or not. I’ve had dealings with shades before and know how to defeat them.”

This caused everyone to gasp again. They all knew that shades had been spotted outside the valley but none had dared come close. Blodhrgam waved for quite again.

“That may be so Logan but as far as I know you haven’t killed one yet, and the one you did meet nearly killed you,” he said.

Logan nodded his head, “That may be true but I’ve grown since then.”

“Sorry Logan but no, we can’t loose a rider when we have so few,” he said.

Logan gritted his teeth, “At least let me search for him, and come back when I find him. I’ll stay in the air the whole time.”

Blodhrgam sighed, “Fine, but you must take a rider with you.”

Logan nodded his head. Aelia was about to volunteer when another voice beat her to it.

“I will go with him,” said the feminine voice of Trixie.

Logan was about to protest. He didn’t want her to come.

“Okay Trixie, you leave as soon as you’re a ready, everyone, dismissed,” replied Blodhrgam.

* * *

Sashi flew over the top of the mountains closely followed by Havën, Trixie’s dragon. Havën was a light pink, almost white coloured dragon with deep green eyes and a very hatchling like attitude. She and Sashi didn’t get along very well either, for reasons Logan was unsure off. Another reason he didn’t want Trixie to come with him.

The two dragons dived over the top of a mountain and out to forest beyond. The forest was by far the riders had ever seen, a few hundred times larger then Du Weldenvarden he had been told. Though something that big was impossible to imagine. He looked through the tress with a sigh, Eragon could be anywhere.

Havën flew up beside Sashi causing her to growl slightly. Logan looked at Trixie.

“So where’s this device you seem so fond off,” she asked almost sarcastically.

Logan didn’t answer and instead pulled his father’s sword from it sheath on his back. Almost instantly he felt energy poor into him as the sword took up an almost blinding white glow.

{‘Stop!’} said Logan.

Sashi drew to a stop in the air. Havën came to a stop a few metres ahead of them and flew back to them. Trixie eyed Logan’s glowing weapon with suspicion and looked at him.

“That’s the sword you used to defeat the spirits in Du Weldenvarden,” she stated.

Logan nodded, “Yes, it is.”

He looked around the forest below for any sign of a shade, or Eragon. Not finding any he frowned and looked at the sword. From the power it was giving him he guessed that the creature was quite close, and there was either a lot of them or it was extremely powerful.

{‘Can you see anything?’} he asked Sashi.

{‘No, nothing,’} she replied.

He turned around and looked behind him at the mountains, and nearly jumped out of the saddle. He swung his sword intercepting a fireball that had been shot from one of the caves in the mountain. The flame was absorbed into the sword. Both dragons growled in surprise and Trixie gasped.

“Over there!” yelled Logan, pointing his sword to where a dark figure had just vanished.

Sashi took off with a flap of her wings, descending with speed towards the cave. Havën followed them and they stopped just outside the entrance. The glowing sword’s glare only intensified and energy swirled through him causing him to let loose a pent up breath.

{‘Take me down,’} he said to Sashi.

Sashi did and landed before the cave. Logan slid off her back and landed on the ground, holding his sword out in front of him. He started to walk towards the entrance of the cave warily, ready for anything.

“Logan what are you doing! Let’s go tell the elves!” shouted Trixie from the back of Havēn, “Logan!”

Logan ignored her and walked inside. Sashi kept a close eye on his mind; ready to give help if she could. He followed the cave for a while; the only light was the light his sword gave off. The longer he walked the more energy the sword gave him until he practically bursting with it. It was the second most powerful he had ever felt, second only to the time he had fought off the spirits.

Eventually the cave opened into a large cavern, lit up by candles. On the far end of the cavern was the broken form of Eragon. Logan cried out in surprise and rushed over to him.

Eragon didn’t move. He hurriedly put his hand on Eragon’s neck to see if there was a pulse. He let loose a sigh of relief. There was a pulse, it was weak, but it was there. Eragon murmured slightly but stayed unconscious.

“Come on wake up,” said Logan.

Slowly Eragon’s eyes opened. He seemed a little fazed at first but his vision slowly cleared revealing a pain glazed over look. His eyes suddenly widened in horror.

“Behind…” he coughed.

Logan spun around, his sword help illuminating three figures. They all wore dark cloaks so he couldn’t see their faces, but he could feel their power. They were shades, all three of them. As far as he could tell none of them was Kazra, for which he let loose a sigh of relief.

The middle shade gestured to the one to his right, “Kill the interloper.”

The shade grinned and pulled out a sword that looked almost like it was made from molten rock. With s screech it launched itself at Logan. The prince stood there calmly, waiting for the attack. Just when it seemed that the shade would have killed him Logan moved. His sword met with the shade’s causing it to go flying into the air before Logan plunged the sword into the shade’s heart, causing it to groan, before it crumpled to dust. The spirits that were kept in its body swarmed out of the cave as fast as they could go. The sword lost a little bit of glow and Logan’s power decreased a little.

The two shades looked at the human with surprise. No one defeated a shade with so much ease. They looked at each other before drawing their swords and slowly making there way towards Logan. Their minds attacked his but the sword’s power also strengthened his mind.

They struck together. Logan ducked under one of the strokes and defended against the other. He then attacked back, striking towards one of the shade’s legs. It jumped back and the other struck but Logan had already put his sword in a defensive position. They backed up from each other, swords at the ready.

Eragon was watching from the sideline with amazement. He had only ever seen two shades before these three and those two had been extremely difficult to kill, yet here was Logan taking on three, or now two, and matching them head on.

Logan was the first to strike this time. His glowing sword striking with so much speed and power that it forced the two shades back. The shades and the human sparred back and forth for a while before one of the shades slipped up. Logan took advantage and his sword slipped past the shade’s guard and into its heart. With a screech it fell to the ground and turned to dust, more of the spirits fleeing.

His power decreased again, this time by quite a substantial amount and he stumbled slightly, before jumping back and avoiding another strike from the remaining shade. It now had real fear in its eyes as it eyed the human who had killed its companions. A desperate idea suddenly formed in its mind. It put forth its hand.

“Brisingr!” it yelled, throwing a fireball.

Logan blocked it with the sword, but the shade moved quickly. It ran towards Eragon and picked him up, placing its sword against Eragon’s neck. Logan hesitated. The shade smiled.

“Not so eager now human,” it snarled, “Now drop your sword or I will kill your precious ‘shadeslayer.’”

Logan hesitated again, “What do you even want with Eragon?”

“He has been responsible for the deaths of two of our brothers,” it said, “It is now time we returned the favour, but if you let me free now I’ll let him free.”

Logan took a step forward and the shade pressed the sword harder down on Eragon’s neck, causing the rider to groan a little in pain.

{‘No Logan don’t,’} yelled Sashi in his mind.

Logan ignored her and let the sword fall from his hand. It clanged against ground and the power that it had given him left him all at once, causing him to stagger. The shade twisted its head in small confusion.

“Now kick it away,” it said.

Logan did, kicking it to the far side of the cave. The shade smiled and nodded its head, before suddenly launching itself forward at Logan. Without the extra speed and power the sword gave him he had no hope in avoiding the stab. All he could do was put his hand out in front of him. He cried in pain as the sword pieced through his wrist and into his shoulder. He stumbled backwards and landed on the ground, groaning. The shade laughed and walked towards Eragon, leaving the sword pieced in Logan.

{‘No Logan!’} screamed Sashi and a roar filled the cave form outside.

The shade hesitated for a second and looked out the way towards the entrance of the cave, before shrugging. It summoned forth a flame in its hand and looked towards Eragon with a smile. Logan saw all this through his closing his eyes.

“No!” he said and put out his palm, saying the first word that came to his head, “Sashi!”

A golden light formed in the palm of his hand as energy rushed out of his body. The golden beam shot towards the shade, striking it in the heart and searing straight through its body. It screeched in pain and fell to its knees as it to turned to dust. The spirits in its body fled the cave.

Logan let loose a saw smile and lay his head back, letting darkness overtake him.