Kvistr by Melissa Nichols (elon musk reading list .TXT) 📕

was missing. All of the training in the world wouldn't do a whole lot of good unless she had a sword, magic being a last resort because of its various dangers.Alanna was a little apprehensive about Rhunon needing to borrow her body to get around her oath, but she opened her mind to Rhunon anyway. If this was the only way to get a sword…Thankfully, they didn't need to meld minds just yet. First, after donning a jerkin and apron, Alanna helped Rhunon build up the fire in the pre-made smelter. Using a couple of bellows and striking downward alternately, they supplied the fire with fresh air. Because of the steady beat needed to keep the fire fed, Alanna lost track of time.When Rhunon declared it ready, Alanna shoveled the glowing charcoals out of the fire until the metal was exposed, then she had to shovel an inch of the fine white ash onto the metal until it was completely covered."Enough," Rhunon exclaimed, shocking Alanna. "We can do no more until the sun sets. Let's talk about the blade, hmm? How do you prefer to fight?"

"Well, Eragon's been getting us to fight with shields as well, but I haven't taken to it like I have to everything else. I don't know if I'm just not good at it or if I just need to practice more. But when I don't have a shield, I fight with one hand on the sword and I use my other hand for balance, but when I need to deliver a powerful stroke or block then I need both hands on the hilt."

"And what about the length of your blade?"

"Well, I went to Valtharos Hall to see Tamerlein. Besides Brisingr, I had not seen a Rider's sword before so I wanted to see what might suit me. I'd like the same length blade as Tamerlein, but I'd also like to be less wide, and smaller everything else. My hands aren't as large as Arya’s are."

"Yes, that goes without saying. Tamerlein, while it did provide you with options, just isn't suited for anyone but the one it was made for. Now, would you like the blade to be straight, curved or somewhere in between?"

"I think straight would be better for a cleaner cut, longer reach."

"Very good reasons. Guard preferences?"

"None. I'll leave that up to you."

"And you already said you wanted the width of the blade to be less than Tamerlein. How do you feel about Brisingr's width?"

"I haven't held the sword so I can't be sure on how the width would affect it, but perhaps just a few hairs thinner, on account of my body. Wouldn't that make the sword lighter? But I wouldn't like it so thin that it breaks or anything. "

"You know as well as I do that the Rider swords are impervious to most magic and are impossible to damage by normal means. There is no fear of breaking the blade. But I do understand what you mean to say and the blade will be thinner than Brisingr's but not overly so. A couple of inches less should suffice. Now then." Rhunon then stood, with some difficulty Alanna noted, and made her way to a wall of pokers. She grabbed one and tossed it at Alanna as she picked up a second. "Let me see you fight."Alanna was stunned as she followed Rhunon outside, away from the smelter and the workshop. Rhunon turned, pointed her poker and waited. Alanna forced herself to relax, reminding herself that she had to fight someone besides Arya and Dusan eventually, and got into her favorite pose. They stood there, still as stone, until a distraction came along. Due to her discipline, it was not Alanna who was distracted. Seeing Rhunon glance away, Alanna jumped forward to poke Rhunon in the gut before she danced back. Rhunon chuckled and began the fight in earnest.When Alanna was beginning to get sore from working her muscles so hard, sweat beaded her forehead, rivulets running down her back. Seeing this, Rhunon broke the fight and the two made their way back to the workshop for some water and food. After the break, Alanna didn't want to sit around and do nothing so she offered to help Rhunon, doing whatever tasks Rhunon deemed she was able to do without damaging anything, which Rhunon took advantage of. So Alanna helped Rhunon tidy up the workshop until the last bit of light had left the sky. At which point, Rhunon, Alanna and Faolan all had to help to break open the smelter, remove the brightsteel, the special steel that the Rider swords are made out of, and break the steel into fist sized chunks. For the larger pieces, Rhunon had to use magic to break them into the proper size.After the pieces were the right size, Rhunon gathered up the pieces of certain colors and put them on a tabletop that she had cleared off before."Alright. We'll need to meld minds now. Are you ready?" Rhunon explained, sitting in a chair."Yes, Rhunon-elda." Alanna said even as she broke down her mental barriers, willing her soul to relax."Then I apologize in advance. I will have to get used to your body, your limbs, before we can begin the actual work. So there is a chance you will be hurt to some extent." Rhunon closed her eyes and immediately Alanna felt Rhunon's mind enter and take over her own. Forcing herself to relax, Alanna resisted the urge to kick out the intruder.Once the initial shock had passed, Alanna was actually quite surprised by the feel of her limbs moving without her permission. It was certainly strange, to say the least.As she watched, Rhunon took the pieces to a fire and heated the metal until it glowed cherry red, then she picked them out, placed them on the table again. Examining them quickly, she grabbed some pieces of a certain color and went to the anvil. There, she hammered them into plates before she dropped them into a trough of brine.Once every plate had been doused, Rhunon grabbed a plate and some sandpaper and scoured the black crust off of the metal until the surface was crystalline, then she set it aside. With the next piece, she repeated the process but put it away from the first. Curious, Alanna delved a little into Rhunon's mind, enough to know why she was doing that. Sorting through the vast amount of knowledge, Alanna learned that Rhunon could see things in the metal that Alanna could not and that Rhunon was sorting the plates based on purity and overall hardness.Displeased by the dents she had made, she broke each plate into flakes that were similar in size to Faolan's scales. Once all of the plates were broken up, she grabbed the flakes and made a brick mold out of them, then covered it with clay. She then reheated it until it was white, removed the brick from the fire, broke open the clay and pounded the metal into a bar.Once she had done that, she cut the metal down the middle, folded the two halves together and pounded them together again before she reheated it. She repeated this process six more times before she went back to begin again with shaping the flakes from each pile into a brick. While one brick was heating, she'd make another brick with another pile of flakes. While she pounded the hard bricks seven times, she had to hammer the softer steel ten times. She explained that this metal would be the spine of the sword and had to be soft to absorb the shock from blows, and had to allow the sword to bend as needed without breaking.After that, she took the harder steel bars and twisted them together seven times and then pounded it straight. Again, this repeated this six times. Once that was done, she flattened the metal into a rectangle and cut it in half lengthwise and bend both halved into a V.Then she placed the softer metal between the two halves of harder steel and hammered away again to form the blank of the sword, hammering from the bottom up.

Rhunon-elda, Saphira-elda and Eragon come. Faolan informed us, having been vigilant while Alanna had been absorbed with Rhunon's swordsmithing. Ah, what timing that boy has! I could use Saphira's help. Rhunon replied and stopped working momentarily. She turned to face Eragon, whom was at the entrance to the workshop. He lifted a brow at Alanna and then to the sword."You need Saphira?" With Alanna's voice, Rhunon replied affirmatively. Eragon nodded and then Saphira's massive eye appeared."Oh, yes. I forgot to take into account her size. It will be difficult for her to get a small enough flame in here, wouldn't it?"

"Yes. Well, perhaps I can help. I can add energy to 'flame' to increase the temperature. I've got the energy to sustain a flame as hot as a volcano's pool of lava." Eragon suggested as he tapped the sapphire on the pommel of his sword."Perhaps that will work. Are you sure you can spare the energy, though?"

"Of course I can. For three years I've been storing energy in my sword's sapphire. I've got more energy then I know what to do with." He walked over to Alanna and conjured up the spell. The spell started out as a simple fire but, as Eragon added energy, the fire grew into a white-hot inferno that he kept tightly leased on a six-inch section of the blade which Rhunon hammered. Together, they made their way up the blade. It wasn't lost on Alanna that Eragon's sword caught fire when Eragon began the spell, and she also noted the blade's fire increase in light as Eragon had added energy. She made a note to ask him about that later.

Rhunon-elda, how did Eragon know that we needed fire for this section?

Because this is exactly how I forged Brisingr for him. After the Fall of the Riders, I swore I would never create another sword. But I had to circumvent that oath to give Eragon a sword meant for him. By then, he had lost his original sword, Zar'roc, to Murtagh and a simple staff, no matter how reinforced, wouldn't have sufficed to slay Galbatorix. Eragon found the brightsteel we're working now and he loaned me his body just as you are so I could make a sword designed especially for him.

Zar'roc? How did Eragon come to have it? Wasn't it forged for Morzan?

Yes, it was, but that is something you'll have to ask him. It's not my place to divulge someone else's past where I am not concerned.

Yes, Rhunon-elda. After the blade had been heated and hammered again, the blank was finished. Rhunon decided it was late enough, the rest could wait for tomorrow, and withdrew herself from Alanna's body and mind.Regaining control over her body, Alanna seemed to wake up from a daze. It took her a few minutes to remember how to do simple things, but when she did she immediately sat down to regain her thoughts."How are you holding up, Alanna?"

"Okay…I guess. Still trying to remember how to think."To that, Eragon chuckled. "Don't worry. You'll have all of tomorrow to remember everything. Even if Rhunon doesn't need you tomorrow, you deserve a rest."

"Yes. I can do the rest of this myself, Alanna. You go rest up. I expect you'll need all of your energy when this sword is finished so you can swing it around and get used to it. Oh and don't forget that you get to name it. You should think about that. It'll be reminiscent of Faolan. His belly scales on the outer, deep purple on the inner."

"I can't wait to see it, Rhunon-elda! It sounds so beautiful."

"And it'll be thinner than usual so it'll appear to be more graceful, like yourself actually. Now, then, its late and I have to continue this in the morning so good night." Rhunon shooed Alanna and Eragon away in