Addiane told Nyriem what she wanted him to do, then left him to his own devices for the rest of the day. The next morning, she went over to the traveling market and had breakfast with the boys.

Nyriem was very excited to see Addiane's brothers. He nosed Kath curiously and huffed out a sharp breath before pushing his snout against the man's side lightly. The whole time they were eating, he kept himself as close to Kath as possible.

"He's like a big puppy with you. It's amazing."

"I am not a puppy, thank you."

"You're acting like one." Addiane teased, taking a bite of the sandwich that Grefrey had made for her. Her dragon glared at her, then nuzzled against Kath's hand again as he scratched the small scales under Nyriem's chin.

"Cut him some slack, Dia, we haven't seen each other in months." Kath grinned.

Addiane shook her head, smiling. "He gets away with everything around you, it makes it worlds harder to deal with him when you aren't around."

"I'm sure you deal with it well."

"Well I have to, I'm his Rider." She chuckled and finished her sandwich, then hauled herself to her feet. Kath stood as well. 

"I should go see what the Shadeslayer and Murtagh are thinking of. We might have a way to get more information about one of the groups that's been attacking."

"Stay safe." Her older brother frowned and reached over, pulling Addiane into a one handed hug and kissing her forehead. "We do have to sit and talk for more time at some point."

Addiane nodded. "Of course. I'll be back, don't worry."

She walked back through the town to Roran's house. Murtagh and Eragon were sitting in the kitchen, poring over some hand drawn maps. The remnants of their breakfast were piled on the edge of the table.

"Ah, there she is. How are your brothers?" The Shadeslayer asked.

"They're doing well, considering the circumstances. How are you feeling?"

"Tired, but it's much better now than before. I'll be fine, come sit with us and talk this through."

Addiane walked over and peered at the maps. "Are you trying to figure out where their camp is?"

Eragon nodded. "I know these mountains like the back of my own hand. If anyone would be able to pinpoint the location, I think I could, because I know what everything up there looks like."

"Okay, talk me through what you're thinking."

"So there's a large group of them," Murtagh started off. "At least fifteen people, probably more. We've got to assume they aren't bringing their full force into these skirmishes. They're not going to want to just camp everywhere, because it would create a problem for any sentries if there are trees in the middle of their campsite."

"Clearing then. Which immediately lowers our options." Eragon pointed at the map. "Considering where they're watching us from and where Roran has-"

"Where is Roran, by the way?" Addiane asked.

"At the traveling market, I believe. Why?"

"I don't think he should go outside much, if this group has no concept of magic they might become suspicious of the fact that the man they know broke his leg is walking around town looking no worse for the wear."

Eragon nodded slowly. "I'll mention that to him. Any other things we should think about?"

"Not that I can think of at the moment... continue."

"Okay, so if we consider where the people watching have been, and what clearings are in the area, we can narrow it down to a couple places." Eragon pointed to three small stones he and Murtagh had put on the map.

"Well that makes it a lot easier." Addiane nodded. "Three clearings?"

"If everything has stayed the same since I was last up here. I assume it is, but we might get out there and find that everything has changed."

"We should also consider that they circled the town to throw us off."

"Why would they do that?" Murtagh frowned.

"Those archers seem to know a lot about unseen movement and other things like that. I think they'd be the ones to think about all the possibilities and try to throw us off their scent if they are spotted."

"That's a good point... but they're very good at what they do, so I don't think they'd go that far. Their first line of defense would be to lead anyone following them on a wild goose chase, leave them in the dust, and then make their way back to the camp by themselves."

Addiane nodded. "That makes sense actually... We can always just check those clearings first and if we don't find anything we move on to other areas."

"Before we do, we should see if anyone can give us information about their fighting styles. If we get caught and have to deal with them, it would be helpful to know a little bit about what's going on."

"I'll do that." Eragon nodded. "I know you two were planning on sparring at some point. Just make sure it's somewhere you can't be seen easily from the forest."

Murtagh grinned. "We could always do it in the middle of the street, give everyone a little something to watch?"

"I don't know... if I get ahold of that power again, no one's going to want to be near me, and that won't work if we're trying to keep everyone safe. We need them to trust us."

"Take them out to the farm."

The three Riders looked up. Roran was setting a basket of fresh vegetables on the counter next to the stove.

"How's the structural integrity of the place?" Eragon frowned. "It wasn't too good when I left and I doubt you had time to replace things properly.

"Oh we tore the whole thing down, but the foundation is still there and it's enough open space for a decent fight. So long as none of those cloaked men see you leave, you should be okay."

"We won't ever know until we see one moving. They're very hard to spot." Eragon sighed.

"Addiane seems to have no problem with it." Murtagh crossed his arms.

The other two looked at her.

"I had noticed that." Roran nodded. "How have you been sighting them?"

Addiane shrugged. "I can just see them. I used to hunt with a sling, so I've gotten used to being very quiet and analyzing every movement to see what could be unnatural. Unnatural things often mean danger."

"They've trained to do similar." Murtagh shook his head. "You've got something on them that the rest of us don't."

He and Eragon shared a look that made Addiane shift nervously. There was something that they were clearly attributing this ability to that she wasn't aware of.

She was fairly certain that the 'thing' was the strange powers she had, but she couldn't be sure of that. It still made her uncomfortable, she wanted to know what they were thinking.

"Go check out the farm then. If you walk down the main road to the tavern at the far end, then take the path up into the forest, you'll find it after a couple minutes." Eragon finally said.

Murtagh hauled himself to his feet. "Alright. Come on, Addiane, lets go find the big slab of rock in the ground."

Addiane rolled her eyes and got up as well. "Lead the way."

They walked in silence along the main road of the town. At the end opposite Roran's house, Murtagh turned onto the small path Eragon had mentioned.

Soon they were in the forest, walking between the trees.

"Are you and Eragon ever going to tell me why you think I have the powers I do?"

"What do you mean?"

Addiane crossed her arms, shooting him a look. "You know what I mean. Every time I mention something strange, you two stare at each other like it's the only way you're going to keep it to yourselves. It's driving me utterly mad. I have no clue why I have these powers and it's very irritating knowing that you two have a theory you won't share."

"We don't have any full theories. I had a thought and mentioned it to Eragon, but he said it's impossible so we disregarded it."

"Then why do you two tense up like little kids caught stealing sweets?"

"We're just trying to figure out what's going on. There's something to it that neither of us get, and we talked about that bit too, so whenever you say something I look at him to sort of ask if it makes more sense to him. The answer keeps coming up as no. It's frustrating."

"It's frustrating to me too, I'm the one with the problem." Addiane grumbled.

"I know." He sighed. "Come on, lets go spar. Maybe you'll be able to access the power, then we can try to figure out what it comes from. Or we just get to loosen ourselves up, get rid of some of our anger."

"That would be nice. I could go for a hand to hand combat spar actually."

"You just want to punch me in the face." Murtagh snorted.

"Maybe."

They stepped out of the trees at the edge of the farm and Murtagh looked around, nodding slowly.

"That's a good area, I'll give them that."

"It's unfortunate they tore the building down. A farmhouse would be perfect here."

"You know, I'd assume that's why they had one there."

Addiane smirked when the Red Rider looked at her.

"Now I am going to punch you in the face."

Murtagh threw his head back, laughing. "I suppose I'll deserve it then."

"You really will. Come on."

Addiane was going to walk towards the foundation of the old building, but Murtagh took off at a near sprint, so she followed suit.

Murtagh took off his sword belt and laid it at the edge of the spot where the house had once stood. Addiane dropped hers next to it.

"Does Eragon train you all regularly in hand to hand combat?"

"No, but some of the spellcasters decided to teach a class on it. It's an art form to them and they wanted to instill some of that interest in us."

"Were they successful?" Murtagh dropped back. Addiane grinned and matched his stance, shifting slightly to adjust for her shorter stature.

"Ready to find out?"

She'd been about to jump forward, but Addiane suddenly heard a noise. She stopped in her tracks.

"Did you hear that?"

Murtagh paused, raising his eyebrows. "This had better not be a ploy to get me off guard."

"It's not." She turned her head a little, trying to hear anything else.

"It's doing it again."

Addiane frowned, looking back at him again. "What do you mean?"

He made a general gesture towards her. "The hair. The skin. The things you keep doing when you access the powers."

It wasn't until he said it that Addiane realized she was pulling from that power source again.

"How is it possible that I can access it more easily when I'm not paying attention?"

Murtagh shrugged. "Maybe when you try to get to it you find it harder than when you just naturally need to use it?"

"So then why does it start up every time I spar with you?" Addiane complained, crossing her arms.

"I suppose something in your subconscious recognizes that I'm a serious threat, even if we're sparring in a way that won't hurt you. But I'm more concerned with what you heard. Could you actually tell what it was?"

She shook her head, looking around. "I heard something, but I don't know what it was. I think it was something moving."

"There are a lot of animals around here."

"I know. Something just told me it wasn't that... I don't know why."

"Strange. Maybe that's part of your powers too."

"I wish someone knew how these powers worked. It's horrible."

"I know... we should go back and tell Eragon though, because if you have a feeling that something isn't right, your instincts are correct, more often than not."

Addiane nodded and they went to go pick up their swords.

Murtagh led the way down the path again when they reached it. Addiane walked with her arms crossed and her head low, trying to figure things out.

It was a complete stroke of luck that she saw the track. A single footprint, like someone had stepped in the mud on the edge of the trail on accident. Addiane stopped and peered at it.

It was clearly a man's boot-print, and that of someone who knew how to move without being noticed. After a quick glance around, she saw that there were other tracks too, but they were much lighter. This person hadn't been expecting the side of the trail to be as soft as it was. 

Further inspection showed her a little patch of grey and green fabric caught on the branch the thicket. It was tiny, something even someone skilled in stealth would be unable to avoid.

Addiane looked up. Murtagh was already a ways down the path, not having noticed that she stopped.

She stood slowly, waiting for him to take a bend. Then she silently stepped into the bushes, following the little markings that told her where her prey was going.