The Dragon Sorcerer

Bruised Knuckles

The young male stumbled back, balancing his weight on his bare feet.

His breath was heaving and the sweat ran down the dark bronze skin of his toned body.

"Damn it." he cursed through gritted teeth as his golden eyes glared up to the She-Orc in growing frustration.

He threw his fist out in a straight punch at her stomach. The orc on the other hand countered the blow with ease as she brought up her forearm and met his punch with her rock hard muscles, which caused the poor male's knuckles to crack in a alarming way. With no time to lose he formed a fist with his left, and threw it at her outstretched jaw, but his punch went nowhere. The red head had dodged the attack quick enough for him to miss it, as he felt her strong fingers grip his neck firmly from behind, fast and unyielding like the fangs of a viper catching it's prey.

Now he was in trouble.

The female orc lifted him up and threw him over her shoulder, slamming the boy onto the ground with a loud thump.

The air had been knocked clean out of him, as he layed restless in the dirt that clung to his sweat covered body, cusses and gasps escaping his lips.

All the curses he had learned, in all languages he knew, Orc, Common, Draconic, even those Kalra had taught him, were rumbling around in his mind and yet none of those words were able to describe the anger he felt at this moment. This fight has been going for too long. His heart was racing and his body was shaking from exhaustion, begging for just one moment of rest. While his opponent couldn't seem less bothered with her strong posture, her unharmed olive skin, and a heartbeat as if she had just taken a small, relaxing walk around the village.

He let out a shaky breath as his anger turned into sadness. He was just no match for her. Or for anyone else in their tribe.

"Training's over." Tehly's toneless voice appeared and ripped him out of his thoughts. The older warrior had been standing aside, her black attentive eyes scanning over them, analyzing their movements in silence.

"Nika, come here." Said the orc in her mother tongue, which only had been a number of throaty growled vocals mumbled into his direction.

His jaw clenched as he pushed himself off of the smoldered ground, dirt sticking to his pants. His usual white hair was now almost as dark as his skin, thanks to the million times he had been slammed to the ground today.

"You too, Zola."

The red haired girl perked up her head at the mention of her name. In a matter of seconds her entire demeanor changed. The tension quickly left her body, her laid-back ears peaked up, and the pupils of her yellow orbs dilated visibly as her serious expression melted into her usual cheerful smile.

Yes, that was Zola.

"I think he did better than yesterday!" The tall orc girl cheered genuinely as she hopped over to Tehly, who only let out a deep sigh and crossed her muscular arms in front of her chest. Nika approached behind Zola quietly, his eyes glued to the ground as he used his leftover anger to kick around a small stone with his dirt covered feet.

"You should rather concentrate on yourself than on others, Zola. Improvement lays within reflection." The woman explained as her black eyes watched the young orc's smile slowly turn into a nervous chuckle, scratching the back of her head awkwardly.

"You are supposed to think about your actions instead of letting your body do all the work itself. You rely too much on your instincts, but instincts never replace a well-thought reaction. Your strength makes you powerful, but if you don't use it wisely, it holds no worth in battle." Zola lowered her gaze a little more in embarrassment at the sharp critique and Tehly sighed.