Calm before the Storm (Open)

[David Lightningsword]

David sat on a rock in the middle of the Varden encampment. He was tired after their long journey from Dras Leona.. in truth, he was tired after their very  VERY long campaign through the empire. He had fought in many battles, and the energy he had kept in his ring was almost all spent. He was almost always out of energy at the end of the day, which means he could not fill it with energy before he went to bed like he used to do back in Farthen Dur.. or even in Surda before the war had begun.

David watched as a couple swordsmen kept up their swordsplay by sparring with eachother, trying to pick up tips, and also find the flaws in their styles. He kept his mind occupied so he did not have to think about how the man responsible for his fathers murder was with in his grasp, just a league or two away. He would get his revenge soon..or join his father in the afterlife. Both options did not sound so bad to the Magician.

He continued to watch the sparring with interest...

(Any way anyone can think of to get into this thread is welcome, Short of KILLING David of course)

[Velathan]

Velathan grunted as the blunted edge of his opponent's blade bit into his lower left leg. He silently cursed himself for not lowering his shield fast enough, but quickly retaliated by delivering a hard strike down his opponent's sword arm, then followed it up with a knock to the head with the pommel of his hand-and-a-half blade. As the other man stumbled to the side trying to regain his balance, Velathan bashed him in the face with his shield, sending him sprawling.

Velathan stood over him, with his sword-point on his chest. "Do you yield?" he asked, quite simply. When he got a subdued reply from the defeated opponent, he stepped away, pulled his helm off, then sheathed his sword. Breathing heavily after the long sparring session, he dug his shield into the ground and rested on it for a while, silently observing the rest of the men training. Recovering his shield and standing back up, he turned around and saw a man sitting on a rock who seemed to have been watching the sparring match rather intently. Heading towards him, Velathan grinned "I take it you enjoyed the show?".

[David Lightningsword]

David winced slightly as the one man got a cut to his leg. The man was good, but that was such a stupid mistake, David wondered how this man could survive so long in battle. The Magician watched as the same man got the upper hand and the other guy yielded. THAT Was why, David assumed. David turned his attention to the other fights, but not with much interest. He had filled his desire to watch fighting for now. He kind of found the idea of sparring when they could be attacked at any moment by the black dragon and his accursed rider.. the mad king, rather stupid. He knew the men needed to keep occupied, like David himself did, yet there was less..injuring.. ways to do so.. like reading, or writing.

When the victor of the battle David watched walked up to him, David eyed him silently. For a magician to be approached so causally..well it rarely happened. Granted David had trained with the men in the way of the sword, yet still. He finally said "It was interesting. Yet You should be quicker with your shield. A stupid mistake like that could be fatal in a war zone." Hew then eyed the wound and said "Would you wish me to attempt to heal that?"

[Velathan]

Velathan watched the man as he spoke, wondering why he wasn't taking part in the training, before he understood. "How can you he- Ah, you're a magician. I see. Appreciate the offer, but we're using blunted blades, it's nothing more than a scratch." Velathan grimaced as he saw another man, no doubt a new recruit take a blow to the face, tumble into a bush of thrones and then stand back up dazed with a heavily bloodied nose.

"As for the shield, I usually do better, but I've sparred quite a lot today and I'm not as fast as I was this morning. I'll make sure it doesn't happen when we attack Uru'baen, however." he said. Velathan suddenly realized that he had never seen the man before, not in camp, and never on any of the all too often raids he was sent on. More than that, he wondered why the man was here, and not practicing his magic or doing some other magic-related things. "So, why are you here? Surely you should be practicing magic rather than watching us fight common non-magical fellows fight?"

(As you can see, Velathan isn't very familiar with magic. )

[David Lightningsword]

David raised a finger at the man's response "Ah, but even a scratch could prove fatal in a battle. Are you sure that you wish to suffer such a weakness with Galbatorix and Shuriken just a couple leagues away?" he raised an eyebrow, awaiting the mans response to THAT little timbit of news. He knew some people were afraid of magic, but to avoid it with battle so near.. he found that idiotic.

Again, David found the whole thing of sparing all day stupid, but did not insult the man any further. "That is good, we are already outnumbered, we could not afford to lose anyone due to stupid mistakes." When the man next voiced his thoughts, David sighed. Most people and their ignorance to how magic worked.. it was tiring. He said in a tired voice "I would rather not be out of energy if we were attacked. Magic doesn't come from anywhere you know. If we have no energy, or not enough energy in our bodies, the spells would absorb our life force, killing us." he would rather live to see the mad king beheaded.

[Velathan]

"I see. I apologise for my ignorance, I had no idea that using magic could be so... costly." Velathan admitted. This was true, as the only time Velathan had seen magic performed was once when a magician on one of his raids cast a minor spell that tripped over all the the Imperial troops. Nothing special, but effective all the same. Velathan considered the offer of healing the scratch on his leg and said, "If you really wish to heal it, be my guest. May as well get familiar with magic before we attack, eh? It'd be a horrible state of affairs if a magician were to attack me otherwise.".

[David Lightningsword]

David nodded slowly "It is understandable.. most people do not understand the costs of magic. They assume magic users like myself are either weak, unknowing of enough words in the ancient language, or too afraid to casts spells like Riders. The truth is we just do not have the added energy of a dragon to aid us in casting such spells." The Magician explained to the other man. When the other man accepted his aid, and explained how it would be good to get accustomed to magic before the battle, David shook his head "This sort of magic you would not encounter in a battle, its healing magic after all. As for if you came up to a magician..unless you catch him or her by surprise, I am afraid you would not be able to best them. They could break into your mind easily, and kill you without even expending much of their energy. So no, hope that you do not encounter one..and if you do, hope myself or another of the Du Vrangr Gata are near enough to take down the magician. That is our job after all.."

David then knelt and placed a hand on the man's injury. He located the magic within his mind, and called upon it, uttering "Waise Hiell" He wound healed slowly. David then stood, swaying somewhat. "it is done."

[Velathan]

Velathan rubbed where the wound had once been, testing it for any stretching, pain or discomfort. When he was happy with the result, he stood up and nodded to the magician. "I never caught your name. I'm Velathan Arrallsson, I'm a lieutenant in the infantry. I suppose you're a member of that group of magicians I see about the place?" he said, wanting to know the other man better. "Thank you, by the way, for healing that. Also, what do you mean by breaking into my mind? I wasn't aware that was even possible."

[David Lightningsword]

When the man.. Velathan, asked his name, David responded "David Zeusson. As for being a member of the Du Vrangr Gata.. Both yes and no. My father held a pretty important position in the group, and when he died in the battle of Farthen Dur, I basically inherited it. I did not really join them though, preferring to do my own thing until the war started, now I work with them.. but not part of them. Too many of those spellcasters are mediocre at best. It is also mostly political. I for one prefer to further my knowledge of the Ancient Language without the political stuff, not to mention most of my magic is beyond mediocre.." He was not meaning to toot his own horn, he was just stating facts.

When Velathan yet again showed incompetence in the ways of magic, David chuckled and said "it is indeed possible. Most likely you have had many magicians in your mind in this war, i know many have tried to enter mine. Now I can not teach you how to enter other peoples minds, but i can teach you how to shield yourself, if you would so wish?" He smiled at Velathan.

[Velathan]

Velathan listened to David give his introduction, and then explain about his relationship with Du Vrangr Gata. "Glad to meet you, David" he said. When he gave the offer of helping him to shield his mind against magicians, he thought about it. 'It'd be useful to keep my thoughts hidden, I suppose. If I can't use magic, which I imagine would be very useful, I may as well be able to defend against people who'd wish to use it against me.' he thought. "I'd like to take you up on that offer, thanks. I'd think it'd be more than useful against anyone wanting to mess with my head. Especially because I may have had magicians in my head is so... Unsettling, to say the least."

[David Lightningsword]

David nodded at Velathan "The pleasure is mine Velathan." It occurred to David that this was basically the first time he had had a pleasant conversation with someone since his father died. Any conversation he had had since had been war related, strategies, magic conversations. Not like this one, more how to use magic to get past other spellcaster's wards.

He then said "In a way, you are lucky, you don;t feel the presence of the others mind.. when other spellcaster's minds are broken into.. well it can be quite painful, and if it is permitted.. it can be very unsettling. Now, the way to protect your mind is to create a wall with one image, or thought. Now this sounds easy, but it is actually very hard to do, because if the slightest thing distracts you, the wall crumbles, and your mind is open again." He closed his eyes before opening it again. "Now, try what i have just taught you. Once you are ready, lift a finger, and i will try to penetrate your mind." He took a seat back on his rock as he waited for Velathan to be ready. Most spellcasters would figure this a waste of time.. but David knew that, since he had the time, the protection of anyone;s mind was important.. maybe not to the war effort, but to their own personal desires.

[Velathan]

Velathan did as he was told. He conjured up an image of one of the old, robust walls from his home in Belatona, concentrating not only on the wall as a whole, but all of the minor details too. He thought of the scarred surface of the old red bricks, and the dry, rough mortar that held the whole thing together, which, he thought was what he was trying to do here. Pouring all of his willpower into maintaining this image, he jerked his finger slightly to signify that he was ready. Taking a deep breath, he blocked out all of the things around him, and kept the wall in his mind, determined to not let it fall.

[David Lightningsword]

David smiled as He lifted his finger. David closed his eyes and immediately assaulted Velathan's mind, ramming into it with the force of a ramming Shrukian. his first attempt did nothing, and David had to chuckle as he found the image of a wall from Belatona. the pressure resided, and then David rammed into it again, begining to try and find a weak point, in this case, it was the mass size of it. to try and concentrate on something to large would make the thing weak. so with one last ram, he broke the image and said with his mind

"I did not mean an actual wall, try for something smaller, like on brick, or the pommel of your sword, or something along those lines."

[Velathan]

Velathan relaxed and frowned. He narrowed the image in his mind down to one of the central bricks of the wall and focused on maintaining that for a few minutes finally, he said "I think I've got it now. Mind if I try again?" With that said he again began to focus on only that brick and nothing else. When he was happy with the amount of effort he put into it, he signalled David again and concentrated even harder this time, determined to succeed. If nothing else, at least he had gained a valuable lesson that he wouldn't forget from his past failure.

[David Lightningsword]

David motioned to proceed and then he said "That is what i expected, this IS a lesson after all" He chuckled and then remained silent. When Velathan again motioned for him to try and break into his mind, David did nothing for a minute or so, and then with a grunt of effort, David slammed against his wall of one brick. It was better than before. He did this a few more times before he cleared his throat, letting Velathan know he was done.

"Good job Velathan. Though I do believe there is always room for improvement. You must learn to be able to block out every other thought while in battle, it is very hard, and even the most advanced spellcasters have been known to slip up. Also there are those way more advanced in mindbreaking than i am. It is my weakness after all." The Spellcaster said.

[Velathan]

Velathan grinned after letting his concentration slip when David had finished. "I'll have to be extra careful around them then, won't I? I'll just keep practicing this then, I guess." He said after David had finished speaking. He was determined to not let any magician, friend or foe into his mind as he valued his sanity and didn't want anyone to be able to access all of his memories, especially not any enemy magicians, as, due to being an officer, there were some very important bits of information hidden away in his mind. Minor bits like the location of supply lines, but it would devastate the Varden should the information fall into enemy hands.

[David Lightningsword]

David nodded with a small smile "The best thing to do is to practice. Keep it up, try to do this every day, all day, no matter what you are doing. THAT is good practice." He was glad he had taught at least one emember of the varden how to guard their minds. He was certain Velathan was no spy, because he had been in his mind, and would have seen his intent right away. This man was loyal to the Varden. "So when exactly did you join up with the Varden? I don't excactly remember seeing you around Farthen Dur before the war." he waved his hand at the camp as he asked this.

[Velathan]

Velathan thought for a minute as David asked why he had joined the Varden. "Well, where to start? As boring as it is, I have no tale of tragedy that led me to join the Varden as so many others have. I was born in Belatona, as you likely already know, to a minor noble family that had always supported the Varden in secret since Galbatorix came to power. I think it's because one of my distant ancestors was a rider murdered by Galbatorix, but I'm not sure, it was long ago. Anyway, I was brought up to dislike the Empire, but secretly, of course, and as I grew older, I began to notice more and more crimes and monstrosities committed by the Empire. Sometimes minor things like taxing too much, other times, things like murder. It was one such incident that caused me to join. You see, I was returning from visiting some cousins in Feinster when I came across a small group of defenseless peasants. Then, a group of Imperial soldiers marched down the road and began to demand taxation and goods from them. The peasants were poor, and I imagine were simply traveling, but when they told the soldiers that, they called them liars and traitors and began to kill them. I couldn't do anything, as I was unarmoured and unarmed, but when I returned to my home, I said goodbye to my family and began a long trip to Surda, where I joined up with the Varden. I arrived just in time to march off to the Battle of the Burning Plains, and that was where I had my first battle." he explained to David. "Mind sharing why you joined?"

[David Lightningsword]

David nodded "Mine is not as Tragic as most peoples either. You see, my father was born into the Varden, as was I. I was not told much about my grandfather, just that he was a Rider who died at the hands of the forsworn about 75 or so years ago. He rode a black Dragon is the only other piece of information i have gotten on him. My Father fully joined the Varden after his fathers demise, and on one of his trips to Surda, met my mother. They fell in love, and had me. My mother died in child birth. My father than spent the next 16 years training me in magic. He then deemed me old enough and returned to the Varden. So that is how i became part of the varden. However i did not do any missions for them until after the battle for Farthen Dur, having had to catch up on things like sword play." he sighed, finding thinking of the past hard. He knew though that it gave him strength for the future, strength to finally stick his sword in the Mad king's black heart.

[Velathan]

Velathan picked at the grass in silence as David told his story. "What's using magic like? Apart from the tiring part of course, but what does it feel like?" he asked, suddenly curious. Velathan had long wondered how it'd be like to use magic, or ride a dragon. He'd imagined that it'd be very handy in situations like some of the raids he was sent on and the trouble that could sometimes follow. Being able to bend nature to your will, he concluded, must feel great.