A Warrior Made Of Dragon's Blood

Chapter 8

I wake to the flavorful smell of cooking meat, but when I stand up, I almost fall over. I'm so stiff from sleeping on the hard ground. I steady myself and go outside to see Nagaraja.

"Good morning, Sora," he roars nodding toward me. Giving me a bit of rabbit he asks, "So how was your sleep last night?"

"Good except that these past few days I wake up aching."

"Well you could always make your own sleeping area."

"How would I do that? I ask.

"Watch. You can skin animals that we hunt and compile them to make a bed," he answers before skinning a rabbit and tossing me the pelt.

"What free time do I have?" I ask.

"Well, while we are eating meals and before we go to bed." he says. "But, now, we have important work to do."

Nagaraja leads me into the room with scrolls and sits me down at a table. He then pulls out three scrolls and opens one. Painstakingly he shows me each one of the letters and tells me what sound they make.

"This is so boring." I yell after three hours of studying tiny words and letters.

"Fine. We can end this session if you can write and say the words 'thank you for teaching me,'" he challenges.

Looking down at the scrolls and remembering the sounds of the letters, I write out: watashi ni oshiete kurete arigato before saying it out loud to Nagaraja.

"Very good! Now we can move onto swordplay."

I jump up. This is the thing I was waiting for most. We approach a door that leads into a side cave. To my surprise, the walls are lined with weapons.

"Where did you get all of these?" I ask, amazed.

"As you might know, if a samurai kills a dragon they are remembered as a hero and throughout generations. Many knew of me and tried to kill me. They all failed and now I have their weapons." Nagaraja waves his tail across the wall motioning toward all the weapons.

I flinch at the thought of Nagaraja killing people, but I guess it was in self-defense, so I can't be too harsh with judgment.

Nagaraja picks up a katana and hands it to me, saying, "I don't know the stance of a warrior so you'll just have to experiment. When you think you have a good grip come at me. Don't worry, you won't hurt me and I certainly won't kill you."

I finally find a good stance that distributes my weight evenly and after a moment's hesitation I charge. Nagaraja blocks the blow and raises his talon to attack. I block it and charge again. Over and over I charge, he blocks and he attacks me. This is the most fun thing I have ever done. I love the rush of adrenalin and the tension in the air. It seems like just a few minutes have passed when Nagaraja calls out to stop.

"Why?" I complain. "We still have the rest of the day."

"No, we don't. Go look outside." Nagaraja responds.

I stand up and walk to the main cave to look outside. I am surprised and shocked to see the sun casting long shadows on the trees. The entire day has just disappeared in a flash. There would be many more days like this to come, full of rigorous training and preparation for the future.