Chapter 3

Eragon walks out of the tavern and continues to memorize the layout of Carvahall. He tries his best to put names to everyone he sees and even which house belongs to who. It takes him over two hours before he arrives at a small shack at the outskirts of town. Sitting out on the porch in a rocking chair is an older man with a grizzled face passed out with a bottle clutched in his hand. Eragon walks up and reels from the stench of booze. He tries to wake up the old storyteller but is unsuccessful. With no reluctance whatsoever, Eragon fills a bucket with water from a nearby well before splashing Brom right in the face. Brom sputters and flails about in a panic before seeing Eragon in front of him. 

"W-what the hell are you doing boy? You don't wake a man like that." 

Eragon scoffs. "When he is so hung over that he is unresponsive it's the only way. Get yourself cleaned up Brom, I need to talk to you. It's important." 

Brom looks at Eragon's serious face. He sighs before getting up from his chair. "Just give me a moment to change out of these wet clothes." 

Brom stumbles over to his door, walks inside, and slams the door shut. Eragon waits outside for around ten minutes before the door opens again.

"You might as well come inside. This better be important or I'm going to make you regret waking me up." 

Eragon enters Brom's shack. He sees many trinkets and baubles scattered on shelves as well as fancy tapestries adorning the walls. Brom walks over to a chair and sits down. He motions for Eragon to sit in the chair facing him. 

"So… What is this important thing you need to tell me?" 

Eragon smirks. "I think it would be easier to show you." 

Eragon pulls a small stone from his pocket and places it on his open palm. He takes a deep breath and concentrates. 

"Stenr Reisa"

Brom's eyes widen in shock as the stone lifts from Eragon's palm and hovers in the air for a few moments before falling down. He looks at Eragon with wonder in his eyes. 

"Y-you j-j-just…" 

"I've become a magician Brom. I figured that you might have heard more stories about them and was hoping you can teach me at least something about magic so that I don't accidentally hurt myself." 

Brom is still reeling from this shocking revelation. It takes him a few moments before he collects himself and calms down. 

"Have you told anyone else about this?" 

"No. I know how people around here feel about magic. That's why I came to you first. Not even Garrow knows that I'm a magician." 

"Good. I would be willing to help you train your magic. You just have to promise me that you will follow my instructions to the letter. Magic is dangerous and if you don't take the proper precautions it can and will kill you." 

Eragon doesn't even hesitate. "Of course I would Brom. I need to know the boundaries so that I don't hurt myself. That is my only goal for the moment. My life matters more than some fancy parlor tricks."

Brom nods to himself. "That's a good mentality to have. I will teach you when I can. Are you able to come here once a week or so for training?" 

"I will have to talk to Garrow but it should be fine. I will just tell him that I'm helping you with something to earn some money before winter." 

"Alright. With that settled let's begin. The words you spoke are from an ancient language that predates the arrival of the elves. This language has words for everything in existence and each word holds power over what it defines. Stenr is the word for "stone" and Reisa means "to raise or lift". Therefore, when you say Stenr Reisa, you are saying "stone raise" which will cause the stone to float into the air. You then cancel the spell and it falls back down. The dangers of magic is that when you employ it, the spell will take the same amount of energy from you that it would take for you to do the same motion with your own two hands. Lifting a stone will take almost no energy at all, but if you try to lift a boulder that's too heavy, you will collapse in exhaustion or worse. Always keep in mind that if you can do it without magic it's mostly safe. If you can't… It would be best to not risk it. Most of the greatest magicians of our time have died from a single mistake. Now… let me teach you a few specific spells that you can train with." 

Brom teaches Eragon throughout the rest of the day. Giving him a few words and drilling into him the importance of pronunciation. One misspoken word and he could turn into a shriveled up husk in a heartbeat. Dusk starts to set in before he leaves Brom's shack. Eragon promises to train carefully and diligently and that he will return in a week or two for more training when he has a day off. He quickly makes his way back home, barely making it before the sun fully sets.