"Thorn has made a list that details which of the team he wants you to fight in what order." Murtagh told Addiane when she had returned to the clearing with her sword. "He won't tell us who's going when ahead of time, insists that it's all 'up here.'" He made a head-tapping motion.

Addiane snorted. "I would believe it, actually. The man seems quite intelligent, if a bit... hermit-esque."

"Don't let him hear you say that." Hal chuckled. He had his sword-belt on now, whereas before he'd only been carrying a utilitarian looking knife. "He'll bash you over the head faster than you can say his name."

"Which one?" Addiane smirked a little. "Thorn Hooky-Hand or whatever his real name is?"

"To be honest, we think Hooky-Hand might be his real name."

Murtagh shook his head. "There's no possible way. Names are part of your family, not random jokes about your misfortunes."

"Isn't Eragon's surname Shadeslayer?" Hal raised an eyebrow.

"Technically, yes. But his real surname is Bromsson." Murtagh shook his head. "He was given the name Shadeslayer when he killed the Shade Durza, because it is so rare for a being to kill one."

"I don't have one." Addiane put in helpfully. "Because no one knows who my mother is."

Hal nodded slowly, taking this in.

"Ready to face the onslaught, Red?" Thorn called from the loose circle that had formed.

Addiane tipped her head sideways, raising her eyebrows at him. "That sounds like a challenge, old man."

Lydia snickered audibly.

Thorn shook his head. "Well get on over here then, lets see what you can do. Stig."

The blond first mate stepped forward. He was carrying a large wooden axe.

"No no no." Addiane shook her head. "That will never work. I'll split it in a heartbeat."

"No you won't-"

"Rider weapons are made of a magically forged metal that makes them basically indestructible." Eragon put in. "Just use your regular battle-axe."

"What if I hurt her?"

Addiane left Eragon to explain, drawing her sword and whispering the dulling spell with a snap of her fingers. The spark flared to life and she began to coat Naegling.

"That's handy."

"Results in a lot of bruises." Murtagh crossed his arms. "And Addiane can be particularly wicked with a blade."

"If you're trying to intimidate me it's not going to work." Stig was watching Addiane as Eragon fixed his axe blade. She raised her eyebrows at him and crossed her arms, refusing to give him anything to go off of.

Eragon handed back the axe. Stig hefted it experimentally. "It doesn't change the weight at all?"

"It's not designed to. Unless you specifically work the spell that way, magic has no physical weight."

"Interesting." He nodded and took a step forward, so he was in the middle of the group. "Are there formal rules here? For combat?"

Addiane grinned. "Try to win, don't die."

Stig chuckled. "I think I can adhere to those rules pretty well."

"Thorn and I will both be watching this fight, so we cannot call it one way or the other. You fight until one person is unarmed or forced to yield." Eragon stood between the two of them. "Try to at least fight fairly honestly."

"No promises," Stig and Addiane said at the same time.

"Alright. Three. Two. One."

He stepped aside and Addiane backpedaled immediately. She guessed that Stig would go for a quick attack and try to end it immediately.

She wasn't wrong. Stig had leapt forward with a sharp downswipe, but even without resistance he rebounded quickly and shifted his stance, watching her.

"Addiane, you can't test your abilities by running away." Murtagh commented calmly.

"Shut up."

Addiane circled sideways for a moment, watching her opponent. For such a large guy, Stig was incredibly light on his feet, and he was watching her very closely.

she had to glance at Ingvar for a moment. If Stig was this fast, and she assumed they'd all trained together so they all got the same training, how good was Ingvar with that great staff he had resting on his shoulder. 

"Pay attention."

She swayed out of the way instinctively and Stig's axe whistled past her face. She backpedaled a step and brought her sword up, clanging it against the axe-blade as he switched his grip and sideswiped at her.

"Nice move." Stig nodded, backing off a little bit, shifting his grip.

"Thanks. You'll like the next few too." Addiane jumped forward.

She'd fought Badez plenty of times. Sure the Urgal was bigger than Stig, but there were at least similarities in their style because of their weapons.

That gave her a little glimpse into how she might be able to take him down.

Addiane ducked another swipe and pushed in close, throwing an elbow to see what happened.

A couple of the guys yelled around the edge as Stig stumbled back, but he took it in stride. Then he spun the axe and closed in again.

As the hail of blows came down, Addiane felt the adrenaline beginning to kick in. She suddenly became aware of Eragon moving in a little.

Ducking under another swipe, Addiane brought Naegling across Stig's shins. he skipped backwards but she landed a pretty good hit on the side of his leg before he did. 

Then the Shade energy had kicked in fully, so she really wasn't worried. Her lunges and swipes came faster, and Stig was more pressed to keep his battle-axe between his body and her sword. The only problem was then that she wasn't quite sure what she was doing that was keeping her ahead.

"I yield..." Stig finally gasped when she'd managed to knock his weapon from his hands.

"I'd hope so." Hal snorted quietly. 

"Ulf, Wulf. You're next." Thorn barked. The twins jumped to attention and drew their weapons. Addiane eyed them warily.

"I assume I'm fighting them because they fight the same way?"

He nodded as the twins glanced at each other, grinning. "If you can deal with these demons at the same time I reckon you can deal with anything."

"Fine." Addiane took a deep breath, spinning her sword in a circle and dropping into her stance. "Let's go."

Both boys leapt forward at the same time and soon the three of them were a blur of pale limbs and bright hair. Ulf and Wulf worked very well together, and Addiane had to admit that they gave her more of a challenge than she expected. She disarmed Wulf first, then Ulf.

"Water break." Addiane insisted once the two had backed off. "If I'm going to be fighting everyone here we need to have breaks."

Thorn nodded and Murtagh jogged off in the direction of Roran's house.

Addiane closed her eyes and took deep breaths, focusing on dispelling the leftover Shade energy from the fights. "Is it strange that I can control it once it's there, to get it to go away?" She asked no one in particular.

"I don't think so," Eragon answered. "It is your power. It is connected to you."

"Here." Murtagh had returned with a bucket and a small mug from the house. Addiane took it and found that it was filled with cold water. She nodded thanks and sipped it slowly, pacing herself.

"Who's next, old man?" She called after she'd finished the cup.

Lydia snickered again, but the smile dropped off her face when Thorn spoke.

"Lydia, your turn."

"What do you mean, my turn? She's got a sword, I've got a dirk! I'm a tracker, not a fighter."

"You're pretty lethal with those darts of yours." Hal offered.

"Well I'm not going to shoot her." Lydia rolled her eyes.

"We change it up." Eragon suggested. "You fight with your knife, Addiane with her fists."

Lydia looked at Addiane. "Are you alright with that?"

Addiane shrugged and unstrapped her sword belt, holding it out to Murtagh to hold.

"When did I become your squire?" He frowned.

"When you went to go get her water." Eragon put in helpfully.

Murtagh grunted and looped the sword belt over his shoulder. "Fine."

Addiane offered her hand to Lydia as they stepped up to meet each other. She took it.

"Try not to kill each other." Eragon said as he stepped between them once they let go of each others' hands. "I have a feeling I don't want to get in the middle of this fight."

"Lydia will rip your head off, sure as day." Thorn called from the side.

"Or I'll rip yours off, old man."

Addiane muffled a laugh and squared up.

"Three, two, one." Eragon stepped out of the way and retreated to the line of men watching.

"You more of a hand-to-hand, or grappling kind of person?" Addiane asked as she and Lydia began to shuffle in a circle. 

"I really just get by with what I can." Lydia shrugged. 

"I don't believe you." Addiane smirked a little and lunged forward.

She'd grown up in a family of eight, and as one of the oldest, she and Kath had taken it upon themselves to teach the younger ones to defend themselves. Addiane had been a fairly proficient fighter in hand-to-hand even before she became a Rider.

They traded blows for about a minute, each striking a similar hits, then Addiane slipped under Lydia's guard and tackled her to the dirt. They rolled around for a few moments.

Lydia ended up on her stomach, Addiane pinning one arm to her back at an extremely painful angle. She smacked her other hand on the ground a few times and Addiane scrambled off of her.

Thorn didn't let her take a break. "Stefan."

"They're all blond." Nyriem commented suddenly from where he and the other two dragons were lounging.

Addiane muffled a snicker briefly and grabbed her sword from Murtagh, not bothering to take the belt. He made an amused sound and she shot him a glare before snapping her fingers to cover the blade again. Eragon was doing the same with Stefan's blade.

And so it went. After Stefan was Jesper, then Hal, then Will. Thorn had Gilan fight her in the middle and true to his word, his sword-fighting was quite different than his hand-to-hand combat. Addiane convinced Thorn to allow breaks only because she wanted to get used to her Shade energy coming into a fight halfway through. 

She also fought Ingvar, which was a wild experience for her.

After Ingvar was Edvin. He seemed nervous about fighting her, but Addiane could tell he knew what he was doing as well.

"So when do I get to fight you?" She asked Thorn as Murtagh muttered a healing spell to fix the wrenched shoulder that Edvin had inflicted.

The old warrior laughed, but his face didn't show any amusement. "You don't want to fight me. I won't be any fun for you."

"I rather do." Addiane raised her eyebrows. "I'd like to see what you measure up to."

By now everyone was watching this interaction with quite a bit of interest. Hal seemed to be especially focused. Eragon was checking a cut on his cheek that Addiane hadn't inflicted, and she briefly wondered what had happened while she was fighting the others.

"You've got all these young'uns around, looking for a fight nearly every day of the week, and you want to fight the shaggy old mess of a man with one hand." Thorn brought her attention back to him.

"You do a great job of downplaying your abilities, but I know you trained everyone I've fought so far, except for Lydia, Gilan, and Will." Addiane challenged. She didn't buy it, whatever this cover-up was.

Thorn shook his head. "I'm not going to fight you, because then I'll be more focused on my bruises rather than re-training the Herons."

The entire team groaned. Addiane got the distinct impression that Thorn's training sessions were not fun.

"Fine. But this isn't the end of it." She crossed her arms.

Thorn grunted noncommittally.

"Well then if I've fought everyone, I think we're done." She looked around, getting nods from all sides.

"Will, are you ready to go flying?"