The Golden Rider Book 1: The Golden Traitor

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

I cleared my throat before I continued with the next entry Corbett had written.  I had made myself comfortable in the hay in the barn, and Adonis had come over to snuggle next to me.  His head lay in my lap as he waited expectantly for me to read the next entry in the diary.

“Day 4.  Gavin arrived today with his dragon, and let me tell you, it was torture.  What we learned in the Academy is nothing compared to what Gavin had me doing.  He says that you have to learn to fight before you learn to control your powers, so we were fighting all day.  His Dragon Iridescent took Layla off to work on her fighting skills more, which left me alone with him."

"I’ll tell you.  I don’t know how he could actually train me like that.  I’m in so much pain that it hurts to even write.  Layla tells me that I should be grateful.  In time, we’ll be one of the strongest Dragons and Riders in our land.  You’ll learn from the best, Layla says.  Yeah, I’ll learn how it feels to be killed in battle.  If it turns out that I am the leader of the Warriors, I will never put them through what Gavin is having me go through.  I’m not that mean."

"Speaking of which, Headmaster told me today that they found another Warrior at the third Academy.  She is on her way over and will be here tomorrow afternoon.  Thank god because there is no way I will be able to do another one-on-one session with Gavin again.  At least we’ll probably be able to work with each other and not with him, so at least there is a chance of beating her.  Gavin says I suck at fighting and need a lot of work.  Imagine when I heard him thinking that I have a lot of potential though.  Especially because I will have the ability to read other’s minds and that can help me figure out what my opponents are going to do."

"Well, the girl coming’s name is Tabitha.  Apparently she has a really cool dragon that is a lilac color and is a very good flyer.  Tabitha has blonde hair and is really smart and a good fighter.  Headmaster even told me that they already discovered her powers.  She is able create illusions, but only on one person at a time.  She found out accidently, and not many people are allowed to know, but even though I know, I’m not allowed to tell anyone else."

"Well, I have an early day tomorrow.  I better get some rest.  I’m nervous to meet Tabitha because apparently she has attitude problems.  This should be exciting.”  I smiled and looked down at Adonis who looked like he was about to fall asleep.  “Are you tired?” I asked.

A little.  Read another.  I want to hear about this Tabitha.  She sounds fun.

“Day 5.  Wow.  All I can say is wow.  Tabitha is an amazing fighter, much better than me and she knows it.  When she first arrived, I knew that I had a full plate on my hands."

"Her Dragon’s name is Arielle.  She is about Layla’s size, and has absolutely no horns or spikes on her body.  You would think that would make her vulnerable in battle, but as Layla and I found out today, that is not the case.  Arielle is very lithe in the air making it hard to keep your eyes on her.  One second she is there, and the next she is gone."

"Tabitha on the other hand, wow.  She has the wildest and most untamed hair anyone has ever seen.  Apparently she hadn’t been at the Academy for long, and she had already had Arielle when she had arrived.  Her village was burned by a couple of rogue Riders when she was young, and she doesn’t really trust people.  She learned to fight while she was alone by hunting down the Riders that took the lives of her family.  She also doesn’t like me very much.  She wants to be the lead Warrior.  She says that she is stronger than me, and so she wants to take my place.  At least Gavin stood up to her for that."

"Well, back to Tabitha.  As I had guessed, he let us mock fight to see our individual skills, and she kicked my ass.  At least Gavin went easy on me, but Tabitha went all out.  If I hurt yesterday, I’m sure I’m dying tonight.  I have bruises all over, and Layla didn’t fare too well either.  It wasn’t very fair either.  She created an illusion in my mind where we were in a field with nothing around us.  She then attacked, but at least Gavin stepped in to stop her from mauling us to death.  He then decreed we should not use our powers against one another until it came time for us to work on magic.  Tabitha then proceeded to taunt saying at least one of us has control of our powers."