WREN Book Three Prince of Dragons

Fighting

The bar was closed, temporarily. We all headed out to the back yard of the inn. There was a horse stable, a shed with a large open space before it. Here Caryan circled the watchers. We created a fighting ring. Piper eyed me. He pointed to himself then to Attroxia. I frowned.

"Have you been around humans so much that you forget I can understand you?" I hissed.

'But they do not.' I felt his sadness, loneliness in those words. I frowned.

"I won't help either of you, so don't even try to invade my memories of how he fights!" I warned them both.

'As I recall, invading your mind has terrible consequences.' Piper smirked.

I saw Bran whispering to Attroxia, Wics was beside him. Piper clicked to the small Earth dragon. Wics lifted his head to eye the fire dragon before him. They had been friends for as long as I had known the fiery dragon. Wics left Attroxia's side. He walked up to the tall lean fire dragon.

"He is with me, so, I will, well I'm going to root for him, but know it has nothing against you!" He told the dragon.

Piper reached a hand out. He patted the small head. All dragons had their own way of communicating. They could talk to each other, so I wasn't needed. Wics lifted his eyes as he gazed untoward the strikingly handsome face. He smiled at him.

"Good luck Pip!" He called as he turned to walk away.

"Oh, yeah, he is the one that bites." Wics giggled heading back to the smoke dragon.

"He is an air type, smoke dragon." I warned Piper. His golden eyes swung to my face.

'Has he ever beaten you?' he demanded. I smirked turning away.

'What do you think?' I demanded. Piper's laugh filled my head.

My eyes gazed off toward the roof of the hospital I could barely make out through the midday sunlight. This was a distraction for all of us. Shea caught my attention. His lips thinned as he shook his head. I turned away. I knew reaching out to the small drake could interfere with the surgery. Reaching out to my Nuare, may have similar consequences. I drew in a deep breath as I turned around.

"Dyami, take the honors." Caryan called out. The hand to hand combat teacher stepped into the center of the ring.

He was tall, his tan skinned glistened in the sunlight as he swept his shirt off. I whistled at this. He had no reason to disrobe. He glanced toward me with a smirk on his lips. He motioned for Piper to enter the ring.

"This is Piper, a fire dragon who is incapable of human like speech." He explained to all who was watching. "That doesn't mean he is incapable of understanding humans." He turned a twisted smirk to the dragon.

Piper was wearing only a short pair of pants. My eyes roamed over his taunt scarred body. It was red, I saw patches where he still had his dragon skin visible. Had they hurt him to the point he could no longer heal himself fully? I grated my teeth together. The dragon flicked a glance my way. I tuned back in to what Dyami was saying.

"... will be his strength to over come. Next we have his opponent, Attroxia. A smoke dragon with a fiery side. He is small, but don't underestimate him. He bites..." I laughed with the others as Dyami noted some of Attroxia's stronger points. He was making the field of fighting even for both.

"Alright, line up." Dyami called.

Attroxia moved to a line drawn in the dirt. Across from him was another line. Piper stepped up to it. Seeing them facing off, one would think the smoke dragon had a disadvantage. I watched interested in seeing what was to come. Bran moved forward at my side. I knew he was itching to fight beside his Nuare. I tucked one hand under the collar of his shirt to hold him back.