Dragons Rising ✔️

Ch 1: Dragon Fight

"The government inspector is five minutes out. I want those dragons marched in here, single file, smallest to largest," Fraitan said in his too-big-for-life stable manager's voice. "No nipping, kicking, or growling from the beasts, or you'll lose your end of year bonus, got it?"

If he didn't hurry up, Mother would skin me alive. It was nearly eight, and she knew as well as I did that the horse stables in town closed at seven. I would already have trouble convincing her that windcarriage traffic was so bad it took me an hour to get home. Any longer than that would seriously be pushing my luck, and with my luck, I'd be grounded for life by nightfall.

"Good, now-" As Fraitan unlatched the large doors to the exercise yard, they exploded inward, throwing him against a support pillar.

A donkey-sized blue dragon galloped right at me. I dove to the side. Another stable hand nearly jumped on me in her attempt to dodge the dragon, but I rolled out of the way. My tail cracked beneath me. Wincing at the needle-like pain of split scales, I stood and brushed myself off. A few red scales slipped out of the scarf covering my tail.

Breathing heavily, the stable hand who nearly used me as a landing mat stumbled to her feet. Unlike me, she was the perfect example of a healthy talme—soft fur from the tip of her catlike ears to the end of her fluffy tail. I'd spent my whole life around talmes like her, but it was still hard not to feel jealous when my scale-covered skin was hurting.

She chased the dragon into a nearby stall. "Goodness, Blue, what has you so upset?"

A bellowing roar vibrated the air in my lungs. Spinning toward the doors, I caught sight of a class 7 dragon three times as large as Blue. Emerald scales glistening in the sun, the massive female puffed out her armored chest as if she was mighty proud of herself for causing such a commotion. Leave it to Leera mess things up right before the inspector arrived.

"Miss Baluger-" Fraitan started, but I waved away whatever insult he was going to shoot my way. After a year of being assigned to train the green menace, I was as fed up with Leera as he was.

"I've got it." Unhooking a shockstick and length of chain from my belt, I jogged outside. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw other stable hands going to their charges, but they were of no concern to me.

Moving cautiously, I raised the chain toward Leera's steel collar. "Come on, let's not make this a whole thing. We've got to get you lined up for the inspector."

She back-handed me in the chest, knocking the wind out of me and throwing me to the ground. I wheezed. Struggling to catch my breath, I propped myself up on an elbow. The shockstick had slipped out of my hand, but I still had a good grip on the chain. It wouldn't do me much good if Leera was determined to be troublesome.

She'd faced off with a crimson-scaled male, a class 8 at least five feet taller and a thousand pounds heavier than her. Wonderful, she was cocky enough to think she could beat Firehorn, who was easily the most destructive dragon at the stables. I'd be dragging her back to her stall in pieces if she didn't cut it out.

Firehorn snarled, but his muzzled snout didn't allow him to let out a proper roar. He raised iridescent neck crests that shone like fire in the afternoon sun. A shiver ran down my tail. I wished I could be confident in my ability to take down a three-ton beast on my own, but I was no elent. Without the shockstick, my magical abilities didn't go farther than basic shapeshifting. Fraitan could stop Firehorn in an instant if he wasn't absolutely useless with an element wand. Shockstick it was.

Scrambling to my feet, I lunged for my fallen shockstick as the two behemoths charged. The thunderous crash of horns made my eardrums ring. Grabbing the shockstick, I spun around to face the dragons. Leera reared on her hind legs and snapped her jaws shut over one of Firehorn's horns. Dragging his head to the ground, she took a set of claws to the chest. They scraped against her armored plates with a sound like glass on stone.

I aimed the shockstick at Firehorn, but my hands trembled. Outside of a short training session, I'd never actually fired it. It only had a few charges—four, five, I couldn't remember. If I missed, it would only attract the dragons' attention. They could move a lot faster than I could. I'd have to fire several shots in quick succession to take both beasts down.

Firehorn clapped Leera's head with his wings, making her yelp and let go of his horn. In the millisecond it took to get over my shock, he slammed his head into her forelegs, driving her to the ground. He pinned her neck beneath his claws.

At least now I knew which dragon to shoot first. If I shot Leera, she'd be dead before I could fire again. I sunk two energy balls into Firehorn's broad side. Shuddering, he stumbled back. His head dipped, but he was still moving. He spun toward me. I loosed three more energy balls before his knees buckled and he crashed to the ground. Fangs bared, Leera pounced on his still form. I tried to fire again, but I was out of charges.

"Down," I shouted the command with as much force as I could muster. Clipping the shockstick to my belt, I moved toward Leera and shook the chain.

She obviously heard it jingling—her ears flicked back—but she didn't move off Firehorn.

"Leera, down. Come. Release." I jingled the chain again, steadily moving closer. "Just come, stupid lizard."

Her head snapped around as if she'd understood the ire in my voice. She lunged at me. I fell back, throwing my arms over my head. My thick work suit wouldn't save me from her fangs or claws, but it might keep me alive the few seconds it took someone to rescue me.

Flame shot over my head, driving Leera back. Panting, I scrambled to my feet and sprinted toward the stables. The thud of someone else knocking Leera out echoed in my ears as I darted into the safety of the building.

Fraitan grabbed my arm before I could go far. He leaned so close that his smoky breath hit me like a physical blow. "What the prip is wrong with you?"

A bit of spittle hit my cheek, and I quickly wiped it off. "I don't-"

"You almost got my best dragon killed by that crazy female, and on top of that, you were this close-" He held his fingers a fraction of an inch apart. "-from landing me with a week's worth of 'accidental death' paperwork. I won't tolerate idiotic talmes putting this place's reputation at risk. Get out."

"You're firing me?"

He shoved me back. "Can't be bothered to fill out the paperwork. Go home and get your head on straight while I deal with this mess. You screw up again, and I'll make time for the paperwork."

"Yes, sir."