A Warrior Made Of Dragon's Blood

Chapter 7

A sharp claw pokes me awake. Rolling over I come face to face with Nagaraja.

"Are you hungry?" he asks.

"Yeah, I am. Do you have anything?"

No, I don't. We're going hunting right now."

I groan and stand up stretching. I climb onto his back. He flies out into the air and we land in a forest at the bottom of the mountain range.

Tossing me a spear, Nagaraja says, "This is your first assignment. You have one hour to catch as many animals as possible with only that spear. And don't cheat. I'm watching from the sky."

And, Nagaraja disappears from sight. Having nothing else to do, I start creeping around the forest silently. Before long I spot a rabbit chewing some grass. I get as close as possible before breaking into a sprint. The rabbit's ears prick up and it's gone before I can even touch it. The entire morning goes by and all I manage to catch is a small bird. By the time Nagaraja has returned, I am panting and covered with dirt.

"So, how'd it go?" he asks casually.

"What do you think?" I retort. "Why didn't you come get me after an hour?"

"Well, you were hilarious to watch. It was great entertainment!" Nagaraja roars, sparks and smoke spilling out of his mouth.

Throwing down my spear I run at him. Almost expecting this, he picks up a gigantic claw and swats me aside. But, I don't give up and I keep charging at him. The sun is setting before I finally stop. I collapse from fatigue and lie breathless on the ground.

"Enough. You have beaten me." I concede.

Nagaraja chuckles and says, "Good. You have passed the first day."

Spinning around I stare at him. "But, I lost to you and caught barely anything. How does that count as passing?"

"I didn't expect you to get anything and even when you knew fighting was pointless, you continued anyway. Perseverance. That counts for a lot. Now, are you going to lie in the dirt all day or come with me to eat?"

I quickly jump up, fatigue forgotten and run after Nagaraja. He leads me into a clearing and in the middle of the trees is a gigantic pile of dead animals.

"When did you have the time to go hunting?" I ask.

"Sora, you have much to learn about my tricks and if you must know, I went hunting while you were trying to hunt."

"I thought you said you were watching."

"That was a test to see if you would obey me."

Walking over to the pile I pick up a rabbit and bring it over the Nagaraja to cook. After eating I climb onto his back as he flies into the night sky. When we get back I'm about to fall asleep when Nagaraja says,

"Tomorrow I'm going to teach you how to read and write. If that goes well we might have time to study sword play."

Excitement surges through me, but exhaustion takes over. Nodding in acknowledgement, I fall into a deep sleep.