Theory & Making A Move

"So what's the plan now?" Arya asked me.

"I am going to Uru'baen to confirm Galbatorix's story before I escort him to Ellesmera." I said.

"Why would you go to confirm his story? He confirmed it in the Ancient Language." Arya said.

"I have my theory, but I can not have all of you going with me. You will only be used against me." I said adamantly.

"Why do you have to do everything by yourself? Why can't you just trust us to help you?" Arya asked emotionally.

"Because. You. Are. Weak." I said word by word.

"You might be able to fight all the Riders off at once, but if we add our Dragon's into the equation you will LOSE! Please...don't do this..." Arya said as she started to break down.

"I have been holding back against all of you for years. I have reached the stage that if I release all my seals, I can defeat all of you PLUS Ēborisk easily. I have been training myself by restricting myself with magic, for years. Imagine if you use magic to increase gravity on yourself to the point your movement has been restricted to the average Elfs strength, and as your strength grows, so does the gravity. Your stamina and strength would grow exponentially. Now, remove those restrictions sealing your strength. How powerful would you be?" I asked.

"...you've been doing this for years? Why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you." Arya said incredulously.

"I, am the first Rider. Not you love. This is MY responsibility. I need to do this. If we are lucky, he was telling the truth. If not..." I trailed off.

"And what are we supposed to do while you are fighting Galbatorix and his army all alone?" Arya asked.

"Go to Helgrind and kill the Ra'zac. They are beings of death and destruction. They have no place in our world." I answered.

"And if we defeat them, then what?" Arya asked.

"Then you all may join me in Uru'baen if I succeed. If I fail, you all have one job. Return to Ellesmera and continue to train and find more Dragon Riders. If I can not defeat him at this stage, even if you all work together, you can do nothing against him." I said softly.

Eragon walked up to us with the rest of the Riders saying "So what do we do now? Are we going directly to Ellesmera?"

"No. You lot will go kill the Ra'zac while I head to Uru'baen." I answered.

"I'm fine with killing the Ra'zac, but why are you heading to Uru'baen by yourself?" Eragon asked.

"I have my reasons. Arya is in charge until you finish your mission." I said as I walked up to Ēborisk and released all our seals.

Ēborisk grew from almost as large as Glaedr to ten percent larger than him. Our mental ranges went from roughly one hundred miles to more than a thousand. Our muscles went from thin and lean to muscular and bulky.

'This isn't gonna work partner. While the strength will help, I lose to much speed from the new stiff muscles.' Ēborisk said

'Agreed. I'll figure it out before we get there. We should also be able to adapt by that time as well.' I replied.

"...WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" Eragon screamed.

"Don't worry about it. Get to work." I said as I walked up Ēborisk's wing because I didn't trust my newfound strength.

...

'Okay. I have our bodies back under control, but we will need to camp for the night so we can truly acclimate to our bodies.' I said.

'Alright. We're a little over halfway there so here is good. Nothing and no one in sight.' Ēborisk responded.

After we landed, I dropped every single passive spell on both of us with the exception of the new ones reducing our bulkiness. It took five hours for us to be one hundred percent confident in our control over our bodies.

'I'll admit that I'm surprised at how effective your 'training' was. If Oromis was right and we were close to Galbatorix in strength before then now we...' he started to say before I interrupted him.

'Oromis could only guess at his strength. He's a glass half full kind of guy. I am more of a glass half empty guy at times. Galbatorix has been preparing for a century to do something. If he were telling the truth he would have come clean to the Elves and Dwarves after killing the humans on the high table. But he killed EVERYONE.' I explained.

'So what is your theory? What makes you so certain he was lying using the Ancient Language?' Ēborisk asked.

'He didn't "SPEAK".' I answered.

'...what do you mean?' he asked.

'Using sound waves, through magic, you can fake speaking in the Ancient Language. You wouldn't be lying in your mind since you aren't technically speaking.' I answered.

'Why do you think that?' Ēborisk asked.

'Because I would have done something similar if I met an opponent that I knew nothing about and was outside of my control. And I was looking for ways he could give himself an out.' I answered.

'He couldn't control us so he tried to find a way to enter Ellesmera to finish the Elves off himself!' Ēborisk realized.

'Very good. He was watching us all day yesterday so I couldn't reveal my worries without being discovered by him. Get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow and I'm sure we are going to have to fight not only him, but that little girl and his army as well before we can face him.' I said as I lay down to enter my half dream state.

'Goodnight partner. We might actually have to kill one of my kind tomorrow...I'm not looking forward to gaining the title of Dragon slayer...' Ēborisk said as he curled around me and the small fire I had created.

...

Unknown to me, the Riders reached Helgrind and leveled the three spires to the ground, finding a blind Sloan, but no Ra'zac.