Layla the dragon princess

Chapter 5 - My first fight

Standing with my dragon still wrapped around my shoulders I turned around and saw all the boys helping their freshly hatched dragons out of their shells.

There were so many colours. From shades of green to firy red , yellow , blue , purple and so many more.

The caretaker spoke up , " you have some bonding time with your new dragons but afterwards they have to stay here in the hatchery until they are 2 weeks old. As you all know dragons grow at a quick pace so by then they will probably be the size of a bear cub and will be able to stay with you in your room until they move to the bigger dragon nests."

I sat on the ground and just ran my fingers over the surprisingly soft scales of my dragon and looked into her beautiful blue eyes. I was mesmerized by the wise and knowing eyes staring back at me.

I knew she couldn't yet talk to me but I sent her loving thoughts and watched as she curled up in my lap and purred falling asleep.

20 minutes later the caretaker signales that we need to get going to our first class and I was dreading the separation with my little one.

As if reading my mind she woke up and clung to me whimpering. All the boys walked to the door with sad eyes where I was still busy trying to get my dragon to let me go.

She began to cry louder and attracted the attention of some of the students and the caretaker. "Let met help you there." But as soos as the man tried to reach for the dragon she began to hiss and growel at him , clinging - if possible - tighter to my chest.

"Odd , hatchlings usually like me. Give me a moment I need to speak to one of the mentors. I'm not in the mood to lose a finger so early in the morning."

I hugged my dragon tightly and she pushed her head into my neck relaxing a bit.

While waiting one of the boys I saw with a red dragon came up to me and asked , " why won't she let go of you ?"

A mentor I remember as Lloyd came strutting in and spoke before I could answer, " Let me explain , because of the queen and Layla's stronger bond she does not want to be separated, it would cause them both emotional pain. As she grows older she will become more independent but right now she is like a child not wanting to be away from her mother."

"So what do we do ?" I asked looking at the mentor.

"It's a long shot but let her stay with you for the day. She will probably just stay on your shoulders wanting to keep as close as possible."

I didn't even protest , just being happy my baby could stay with me.

We followed the mentor out and he led us to our first class. We walked down hallway after hallway and I was so lost. It felt like trying to find your way through a maze. I looked at the art work on the walls not even trying to memorize the way. Paintings lined the walls and one caught my interest. A woman with ash blonde hair like mine was standing next to a man with chocolate brown hair, they both had blue eyes staring motionless in to mine. I read the description and in beautiful writing was , " Queen Sophia and King William Bennet ".

For a moment I was dazed looking at my parents, but I had no time to waste seeing the other students far down the hallway. I did the only reasonable thing and ran like a crazy penguin with a happy and squealing dragon on my shoulders.

Stopping at a door Lloyd said, "this will be your history class. I will come get you when the bell rings for your next class."

Walking in and sitting down when the professor instructed so I got a curious and bemused look from him , probably because of the very clingy  dragon trying to climb on my head.

"Stop !! You are not sitting on my head you weirdo." I whisper shouted and she just bent her head looking at me upside down from her position on my head , trying to give me an innocent look. Nevertheless she crawled down to my lap and fell asleep.

I blushed looking up and got even redder seeing everyone looking at me trying to swallow their laughter.

The class ended an hour later and I was surprised I learned so much already.

Keeping to his word Lloyd stood outside waiting for us.

"Your next class is fighting and strategic training."

At the mention of fighting I may or may not have squealed and peed my pants a little , not because of happiness though. I have never fought a day in my life. I'm a limp noodle. ( Mushu from Mulan being salty inspired me😂)

Exiting the school and walking to the training fields I tried to mentally prepare myself but all to soon we reached our destination.

I was happily surprised to see John waiting for us.

"Good morning I will be your professor for this class but just call me John."

After making us run a mile he explained to us the basics about fighting and defending yourself. He instructed us to pair up and that was the predicament I was in now.

Standing infront of a boy with cockiness written all over his face we circled each other. He took the first jab and landed a solid punch on my cheek. I stumbled back but did not fall knowing that would boost his ego.

John was on the side looking worried but not interfering.

I got back in my fighting stance and began studying his movements. Right foot back. Right arm pulls up. Left foot forward. Punch.

He kept with that style until I was sure I found his weakness. Just before he punched me again and his left foot moved forward I quickly stepped back making him stumble forward and landed a nice punch on his nose.

He got enraged but never changed his style making this easy to exploit his weaknesses.

I landed one last punch on his jaw and he fell to the ground mumbling a few colourful words under his breath.

My dragon which was silently perched on a post ran to me and climbed up my leg so she could lick my face and laughed happily.

John came over with a proud smile and asked, "that went better than I thought it would. Are you sure you haven't fought before ?"

"I don't even know what happened. I just focused on his routine and worked with his weaknesses."

"Well damn. You have the basics of strategic training down and we haven't even started with that yet."

I blushed at his compliments and looked into his beautiful grey eyes losing myself for a moment in their depth. He seemed to be doing the same but after a second the bell rang and the peace was broken.

Wow...