A Dragon's Bond

Training Day

     The cave rang with the sounds of clashing metal, I thrust forward with my spear aiming for his chest, only to have him parry me, directing my momentum past him. I stumbled slightly as I passed him, the air of his body passing blowing across my face. I turned as quickly as I could and held my spear horizontally above my head, blocking as he came down hard with a doubled handed slash. When the weapons connected it sent a painful shock into my hands, loosening my grip and making my fingertips hurt.

     I was beginning to become fatigued as I attacked with a combo of quick thrusts and slashes, he easily stepped out of the way or blocked them with his sword. He was deceptively fast for an older man.

     I had the reach with my spear, giving me about two feet more reach than his sword, he however had the speed. He began his offense, slashing and stabbing at me from alternating directions, fast enough I reacted simply on instinct. I was able to keep up at first, but as time wore on I became slower and slower, just barely blocking his attacks. My weapon was heavier and it was beginning to show, I was breathing heavy and sweating profusely. Even though I was draining quickly, I was thankful for the physical training Jack had put me through. He took notice and began to attack faster, I stepped backwards trying to put some distance between us.

     Slowly, his attacks began making it through my defense with what seemed to be almost no effort on his part, his face blank in concentration. His eyes never shifted towards his next move, he never gave anything away.

     He slammed my arm twice, forcing me to recoil in pain while he followed through with a sweep of my feet. I fell backwards hard, hitting my head on the cave floor, closing my eyes on the impact, my spear rolling away. When I opened them again he stood there above me with his short sword pointing at my neck, he leaned in, slowly pressing the blade on my neck, as he smiled. I closed my eyes in defeat and waited.

"You are getting a little better Adam, but we really need to work on your speed! Probably don't want to skip and physical training days either, that heavier weapon will need to be compensated with strength. Lastly, if you lose your weapon, you'll lose your life. Try to hold onto it next time."

     He removed his blade and helped me onto my feet, I brushed the dirt off my clothes as I got up. The air filled with the dust of my defeat as the smooth, fine dust left my clothes. I clicked the spear on my back into its holder as I turned to face him.

"Every time I get better you step up the skill level. Jack was right about you being a master in hand to hand combat. How about you let me win once or twice?"

     He replied with a chuckle, showing he had no plans of easing my training anytime soon. I smiled back, secretly thankful for the real life training he was providing. He put his arm around my shoulder like an uncle as we made our way to the others at the planning table.

     Draioct and a few of the Earth Dragons had been watching our practice and were now chuckling silently off to the side. I lifted a large piece of Earth from the cave floor and threw it at them as I walked by, attempting to catch them off guard and get my chance to laugh. I turned and grinned expectantly as I waited for my large dirt clod to impact my targets.

     I however had forgotten that Draioct was in my mind and he reacted for the group, catching the earth and turning it to dust, harmlessly clouding around them. Much to the amusement of the Dragons as their chuckle turned to outright laughter. I couldn't help myself and laughed along with the group. These moments of happiness are much rarer these days and should be enjoyed.

"Better luck next time Adam." 

     Othello chuckled out as I playful chased after the lumbering Earth dragon for a moment. We went around the group twice as everyone in the cave laughed at our roughhousing. I gave up after a few good circles with now progress on catching him. I settled on a playful punch t Draioct's leg before making my way over to the side of the room to rest from my sparring.