Drakablod Sogur: An Eternal Hope

Blades and Memories

After a breakfast of sweet rolls and reindeer milk (which was better than I thought it would be), we hurriedly gathered up with everyone else at the swordfighting ring. Drakonsson quickly explained we'd be resting for twenty minutes before fighting, so he demonstrated a few moves with Blakkr as his opponent. The skeletal seiðberendr was happy to oblige at first, but after the fifth time of losing his right hand, he decided he'd had enough, and dramatically stormed off to the other end of the arena. Luckily for him, the ordered rest had ended, and Drakonsson selected a team.

Drakonsson didn't wrap his weapon in cloth beforehand, or use wooden practice weapons– he muttered a few magic words, and a transparent yellow sheath suddenly surrounded both his blade and those of the contestants.

They started slow, like Grandpapa had with us. I was hit with homesickness as I remembered Grandpapa teaching us that very same first basic parrying move on the Skídbladnír. It was an effort to push aside those thoughts as best as I could to focus on the moves themselves.

Vedthrelta came and sat regally to the side as he watched Drakonsson and the team; Duskwing appeared shortly thereafter to observe, though he did so with disapproval. Yelps of surprise behind us made us turn around to see Spellvirki slowly and carefully picking his way through the crowd to get to us, where he laid down and nuzzled up under Hráfnfär's arm with the tip of his snout. Once the dragons had stopped moving, the nine of us focused our attention back to the fight.

The dragons hadn't distracted Drakonsson at all, or even the team he was teaching, surprisingly. They diligently continued to slowly repeat the same move, Drakonsson demonstrating with one team member and the others copying him on each other. After what felt like hours, Blakkr ran from the crowd, waving his skeletal arms wildly to get Drakonsson's attention, stopping the elf in mid-strike. "What is it?"

"You did say an hour for each team, yes?" The seiðberendr was still pretending to be pissed and standoffish, which was hilarious, because his act was extremely fake. Drakonsson nodded in answer, stifling a smile. "That time is up. Thought you'd like to know." He spun on his heel and sauntered back over to Duskwing in a huff; Drakonsson shook his head with amusement. He dismissed the team he was teaching, then called the next.

Occasionally he would order a mandatory rest, where he faced a calmed Blakkr again and showed his skills to their fullest. He was fast, faster than any human I had ever seen. His sword arm was a blur, his blade just a glimpse of a silver thread here and there. Blakkr was good enough to block his attacks, but only just. His concentration slipped for a moment, and, well... His head was sent flying into the crowd of competitors. Someone screamed, and Duskwing let out a growl that shook the trees, earning himself a warning glare from Vedthrelta.

Blakkr's body, meanwhile, ran comedically into the crowd, and returned carrying his head under its arm like a helmet. "That is the last time I spar with you, elf!" He pointed at Drakonsson like a child, to which he responded with a slight smile as laughter rippled through the crowd.

It was nearly dinner by the time Drakonsson called our team forward. I thought the first move, at least, would be easy to master, since we'd watched it repeatedly over the course of the day and Grandpapa had taught it to us before. I was hoping he'd put me up against Alf, or even better, Múfnir or Ylette. But instead, he chose me as his opponent. I'd fought with Zazyr, who'd been a lot stronger than I was, but that was one thing; I'd only won through sheer determination and stubbornness. Drakonsson was not only a light elf, but a male, and a trained warrior. He'd be a hundred thousand times stronger than Zazyr was.

And I learned very quickly that I was right.

My arms gave out, my sword slipped out of my grasp, and his sword clashed with my shoulder. The pommel of my sword slammed into my foot as it hurtled toward the ground, and I fell backward, the impact knocking the breath out of me. I wasn't the first person this had happened to today, but it was still humiliating.