Young Writers Society

Chapter 5

Chaos.

That was the only way to describe what happened next. Jarid knew these were unlike any dragons he had encountered before. Their snarls were pure rage and had no comprehensible meaning. They were nothing like the dragons in the stalls or even the half starved younger dragons Jarid had seen up to this point. These dragons seemed to have a deep seated hatred for humans and the reason was obvious.

Their wings were missing.

Something deep in Jarid’s gut twisted at the sight, but he had no time to feel sick as a Flame Wing was already bearing down on him. Jarid barely managed to scramble and dive out of the way as the furious dragon barreled past. He felt the dull impact of his body hitting the ground and the taste of dirt in his mouth. His heart was beating loudly in his scull and for a moment he simply laid there. His face pale as he gazed at the scene before him.

Some students tried to group together and fight back, but any who came near were struck down by a dragon’s tail or sliced up by their claws. Dragon fire and even a bit of lighting flew all over the arena. Jarid could see a few student he knew tossed through the air like they were nothing. Others screamed as they were trampled under dragon talons.

Normally this would have terrified Jarid, but he felt numb. Then a Sand Wing spotted him and charged. Suddenly none of it mattered anymore. Now all he could think about was surviving.

In a split second everything snapped into focus, and he analyzed the situation. It was hard for most dragons to change their direction when charging full speed. This was especially true for Sand Wings who had slow acceleration but devastating power.

Jarid faked dodging to the right then leapt left, remaining on his feet while the Sand Wing tripped from trying to change direction so suddenly. Jarid felt the thud of the adult dragon’s heavy body hitting the ground right up through his boots.

Now he quickly glanced around at the other dragons.

Of the ten dragons, six were Flame Wings, two were Storm Wings and two were Sand Wings. Sand wings were strong and tough but a bit slower and had no fire or lightning. Many of the students were focusing on the second Sand Wing, and some even tried climbing on its back to hide.

What they didn’t see was that they were being surrounded by the two Storm Wings and three of the Flame Wings who had realised that one of them was being ganged up on. There was a small explosion as the dragons attacked with fire and lightning seemingly without regard for their fellow dragon. Or perhaps they simply knew the Sand Wing could withstand the blow.

From what Jarid knew Flame Wings were immune to fire and had hard scales while being about average dragon speed. They also had one of, if not, the hottest dragon fire of any tribe. Meanwhile Storm Wings had tough wings and could store up electricity as well as generate small amounts of it using magic. They were also about average dragon speed.

Then he noticed that while most of the dragons were concentrating on the group attacking the Sand Wing, two of the remaining Flame Wings were attacking the smaller groups and single students outside the ring.

He watched as one of them pounced on a student who had broken from his group. The student screamed in fear as the dragon brought him to its mouth. But as the dragon’s jaws clamped around him a barrier of wind encased him and blew him into the stands.

The dragon snorted and focused on chasing down the remaining members of the small group the student had left. But Jarid had no time to watch as the remaining Flame Wing had singled him out and was coming at him.

It roared as a stream of fire came from its mouth. Jarid rolled to the right and sprang back up to his feet. The dragon leapt at him with its claws outstretched. Jarid had seen Shadow pounce the same way many times and he knew the way to avoid it. He charged straight forward and slid as the dragon sailed over him. Landing with an earthshaking thud behind him. He turned around quickly as the dragon spun around and attacked again, this time swiping at him with its claws and tail.

Jarid had faced young dragons, including Shadow, many times before, but this was different. Its claws were a lot bigger and heavier, and it was surprisingly fast for something of its size. Still, he did his best to doge and partially deflect it’s strikes using wind magic until it made and error and overextended.

There was a pressure point on the side of their head just below the horns. The bones there were softer where their jaw connected to their skull. Jarid ducked under the dragon’s swipe and jumped up grabbing onto the dragon’s horn. Just before it could swat him like an annoying bug, he slammed his fist into that soft spot. The dragon’s eyes widened and rolled back into its head as it went limp and thudded to the ground.

Jarid had barely landed when he had to roll away as a jet of fire seared the ground where he had been standing. The Sand Wing that had missed him earlier was back on its feet and this time it was approaching much more slowly and methodically.

Jarid knew that if he was cornered it would be game over. He dodged another blast of flame and sprinted towards the center of the arena. Jarid glance back to check where the Sand Wing was and barely turned back in time to dodge the talon swiping at his face. He slid underneath and dived just as a pair of jaws clamped down where he had been just a half second before.

Then he dodged another stream of flame from his left and all of a sudden it seemed like there were dragons everywhere. He dodged two more streams of fire breath as at least six dragons attacked him all at once.

For some reason it reminded him of the one (and only) time he had been put in charge of the kindergarten kids at his school. They had wanted to play tag, but it was all of them verses him. He kept leading them all in and dodging away at the last second, making them all run into each other and get in each other’s way.

Now he led the dragons into each others way, dodging their attacks at the last second and using wind magic to redirect their blows to hit one another.

Enraged they tried to shove each other aside in an attempt to crush the puny insect that dared taunt them. If he ever got far enough away from them, one of the other dragons would start blasting fire or lighting at him. Then Jarid felt his back hit a wall. He had been cornered!

The dragons chasing him redoubled their efforts and shoving. This caused one of them to trip and fly headlong into the wall. Jarid wondered if the armor they had handed out could really protect him from getting smooshed against a wall by a fully grown dragon, but he didn’t want to find out.

Jumping as high as he could he kicked off the wall as the dragon slammed into it. He cleared the dragon but before he could hit the ground, one of the other dragons slammed him with its tail. He felt the armor kick in as it softened the blow enough that he was only winded. Then he felt like a weightless cloud for a moment as the wind magic carried him to the stands.

The fight had all happened so fast he hadn’t even had time to think, let alone see how the other students were doing. After the armor set him down on the benches he sat up to see who was left, but before he could look one of the instructors knelt down next to him and began asking questions like, “how do you feel?” and “where does it hurt?” while prodding and poking him to see if there were any major injuries that needed to be healed.

“I’m fine, really. I just got winded that’s all,” Jarid groaned breathlessly, in the hopes he would stop prodding him. Then Jarid looked down at the arena, barely catching a glimpse of the dragons as they disappeared back into their cages.

“What happened? Why are the dragons getting caged up again?”

The instructor looked down at him and smiled. “The test is over. They need to be sent back to the colosseum in the capital.”

Jarid was confused for a moment then it dawned on him. “Was I the last one left in the arena?” He asked in shock.

The instructor chuckled. “Yes, and you lasted quite a bit longer too.”

Then Lt. Keldor called everyone together. “Alright boys! Let’s take a look at how you did. In first place, of course, we have Jarid!” He said sweeping his hand in Jarid’s direction.

“He not only survived the longest but gets bonus points for taking down one of the dragons.”

Some of the students respectfully clapped for him but most of them just scowled at him. He knew that they probably felt upstaged by a nobody, and it was only made worse by the fact that he was a commoner.

Jarid scratched the back of his neck and looked down awkwardly. It felt a bit embarrassing to get singled out like this.

It was fine though; he’d have to do poorly on the next part of the test anyways in order to avoid having to kill the young dragon. So, their anger and jealousy should be somewhat abated. Still, he’d have to be more careful not to get caught up in the moment again.

Lt. Keldor was just finishing calling out the rankings of the students as Jarid berated himself for winning.

“…and you need to remember that bravery without a plan is just stupidity.”

Lt. Keldor sighed. “That’s all for the rankings on the first part of the exam. Now I’m sure you’re all wondering what the next part of the exam entails and I will get to that, but first there is a secret about the second part of the exam that you all need to know.”

Some of the students looked excited while others looked nervous.

“The secret of the second part of the exam is…” He paused for dramatic effect.

“There is no second part!” He announced with glee.

Jarid felt his blood run cold.

“Wait!” One of the other students called. “Don’t you need to test our knowledge about dragon weaknesses? How to counter them with magic? All that stuff?”

Lt. Keldor looked at them all seriously. “The whole point of this training is so that you can handle yourselves if one of your dragons decides to rebel or you don’t have yours when you encounter a wild dragon. Knowing things in your head means nothing if it all falls apart as soon as you step onto the battlefield.

“This test was to see how you applied what you have learned and how you react to a real and unwinnable situation. Take this lesson to heart, all of you. Next time this happens it might be on a real battlefield, and I doubt a wild dragon will give you a second chance.”

Then he brightened up a bit. “Now I’m sure you are all tired, so use the remaining time to rest before next class. Most of you did well so don’t worry about whether you passed. And for those who didn’t pass. Well… I’ll make sure you have all the training time you need to make up for it.” Lt. Tekar grinned ominously.

As all the students got up to go Jarid felt a hand on his shoulder and a cold, sinking feeling in his gut. He turned to see Lt. Keldor.

“Congratulations Jarid. You did very well. The way you used the dragons’ size and aggression against them was impressive. Indeed, I can’t think of anyone in this class more qualified than you to take on a dragon in combat.”

Jarid gulped. “Um, sir. Do I have to…” He started, but the Lt. slapped him on the back. “Ah ha, ha! We might even see someone put up a decent fight this year,” he laughed as he walked away.

Jarid had never done so well or felt so defeated before. He slowly trudged back to the Black Squad dorms to tell everyone what had happened.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Shoot. I meant to warn you about the winner fighting a young dragon for its scales ahead of time, but it completely slipped my mind. Sorry.” Ethan apologised.

“It’s ok. We can’t change the past. But perhaps there is something we can do to avoid this future. Any ideas?” Jarid looked around the group but none of them had any helpful suggestions.

Finally, Ben put a hand on Jarid’s shoulder. “Listen, I know this will be hard for you, but try to knock the dragon out or incapacitate it in some way. Tell them there is no need to kill the dragon now that you’ve defeated it. If they still insist that you must kill it, then I suppose you’ll have to make a choice.

“I know you’re worried that they might think you are unfit to be a dragon rider if you can’t kill a monster. But we all know that there is no one more deserving of the title than you.”

“We’ll be with you no matter what,” Felicia added, and the others all nodded in agreement.

“Thanks you guys, I think I’m going to stay here for the night after classes are over. I know it might be a bit awkward for you, but could you guys visit Vapor for me? I would appreciate it if you would keep her company, especially you Airel. I hope you can become friends with her so that, when the choosing ceremony comes around, you can trust her to keep you safe.”

Airel looked a bit uncomfortable but nodded anyway. Jarid hoped that the two of them would make a good team. Next year it would be his turn with Smolder as his dragon.

The rest of the day went by in a blur and as night grew near, his dread of what would happen increased. The others left to see Vapor and Jarid sat in his room trying to think of a way to get out of fighting the next day.

He thought of hiding or pretending to get lost while on a walk. Even injuring himself so he wouldn’t have to participate, but it would be far too easy for the academy to find and heal him. It looked like he had no choice but to fight the dragon and either defy the academy or end the young dragon’s life. If he refused to follow their orders, he knew there were many in the academy who would use his defiance as an excuse to expel him.

“Urgh. Why did I have to go and get myself into this mess. Why didn’t I just let one of those dragons hit me at the start. It was so easy and yet I just had to mess it up.” He punched his desk in frustration and slumped back in his chair.

“Do you want some help then?” a deep voice asked. Jarid looked up to find Gunther standing in the doorway.

“Sorry sir. I was just thinking about the tests, sir.” Jarid stood and saluted. He doubted a squad leader at this academy would understand if he told him the real reason.

Gunther nodded and sat on the bed gesturing for Jarid to take a seat next to him. “I know this place is unforgiving and that goes especially for you, but if something is bothering you, your squad is here to help,” He said in a soft tone.

Jarid sighed and looked down at the floor. “It’s not something they can help me with. I don’t want to drag them into the consequences of my beliefs, or my mistakes. When it comes down to the really hard decisions, I am responsible for this whole squad. I can’t be putting all of us at risk because of my petty choices and stupid mistakes.

“I am the only one to blame if something bad happens because I didn’t want to k… to do something,” he cried as he felt the frustration and hopelessness building again.

“Mistakes happen. Even if you were the best leader in the world you can’t make the right choice every time. I’ve seen people killed many times because of mistakes. Even my best friend and partner was killed because of a foolish choice I made. A mistake I will regret for the rest of my life.”

Jarid could hardly believe that this strong and wise man in front of him had ever made mistakes like he had. But he could see the pain and regret in his hazel eyes. Gunther wasn’t done speaking yet though.

“No matter how much you regret what you’ve done. It is even worse to let your past prevent you from being who you are in the future. The only thing you can do is use everything you’ve got. What you know, what you believe, and what your own instincts tell you. Learn from your mistakes so you can make a better choice in the future. That is how we turn the defeat of a mistake into the victory of growth.”

Gunther stood and walked towards the door but paused as he placed his hand on the handle.

“If you want my personal opinion though. The choices you regret the most are those that go against what you believe. Everyone has regrets boy, just don’t let them make you do something you’ll regret even more,” He said solemnly as he left the room.

Jarid took a moment to think about what Gunther had said, then he took a deep breath and nodded to himself. Once he defeated the dragon, he’d refuse to kill it.

If he got kicked out for that so be it. He refused to compromise his beliefs.