Daughter of Medusa

14

Avery reached an open clearing in which a few dragons and a lot of dragon shifters waited, Archer was amongst them

There was a group of women congregated to the side, with a tall athletic built woman standing in the front. She looked fierce and ready for battle. Avery assumed she was Jaera, and the rest were the other daughters of Medusa working for the dragons

Dragon king: Ah, finally here I see

Avery looked rumpled next to her poised opponent, she felt this made the dragon king happy a bit

Avery was angry, she thought, of course he'd do it all on purpose, he wants to make me look and feel weak, unprepared.. I'll show him

A couple of shifters pushed two men to the ground

The men were begging, and Jaera leveled a stare at one of them, her eyes starting to change

Avery took a step forward: No..

Archer wanted to strangle her

Avery turned to the dragon king: If I may, your Majesty, what would petrifying those two prove? They're both weak and powerless. It won't be much of a competition, seeing how fast each of us to petrify them while they ran away. Targets that would attack us as we try to petrify them is a far more amusing choice for everyone

The spectators started murmuring

The dragon king lifted a claw and they were silent: Are you so eager to forfeit your life?

She smiled: On the contrary, I am eager to prove myself

He gave one of his unsettling laughs

Dragon king: Very well then, Lord Thorn, prepare the targets

Lord Thorn bowed low: Your Majesty

The two men who were supposed to be targets bowed their heads ever so slightly towards Avery and fled back to their duties

No matter how this ended, at least she managed to save two slaves from a horrifying death, for now.

It took a while to prepare new targets, which made the dragon king slightly grumpy, for it has passed noon, and the competition was only now going to start when he had wanted it to have long ended by now

They brought with them two hawks, two griffins and two forest trolls

The fact that they'd brought normal hawks seemed to be meant as an insult, as Jaera sniffed haughtily, but Avery didn't mind. At least she'd get one easier enemy. She didn't relish attacking these beings, but at least they would fight back, and looked more bloodthirsty and aggressive than others of their kinds she'd ever encountered before

Dragon king: Begin!

The hawks were first unleashed without giving them time to prepare. Jaera's eyes immediately changed

Avery felt at a disadvantage as Jaera seemed used to being thrown into similar situations and was affable, so she tried to morph into her gargoyle form to better her odds

Before she even got to start..

Dragon king: Stop! You are to use only your Gorgon abilities

She gritt her teeth but complied

This cost her precious seconds

Jaera has already started petrifying her hawk

Avery's eyes immediately became serpentine, and her own hawk froze mid flight, while he it was aiming for her head

While her petrification took only slightly less time than Jaera's, the other girl's petrification had started earlier, so she finished only a split second before Avery

Avery was already panting, hungry and tired from lack of sleep. Jaera looked in far better shape

Lord Thorn: Round one goes to Jaera