Shadow's Rising {Wing 5} Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The Dragon Rider Tournament

Jarid breathed in the crisp air as his feet pounded the dirt during Black Squad’s usual morning run and felt refreshed. It was good to be back training with his friends.

Jarid stopped by the Dragon Roost to update Smolder on everything that was going on. Smolder was concerned for Shadow's safety but Jarid could tell that the situation also made him uneasy. He was relatively safe at the academy so long as he had Jarid as his rider, but rescuing Shadow would be dangerous. If things went poorly, Smolder's safety could be in jeopardy, or worse. 

Jarid comforted him and promised not to do anything reckless for the time being. When he returned to the dorm, Gunther was waiting with a message containing the specific details of the tournament.

It was a long piece of paper with a brief and slightly vague description of each event that only the Flight Leader was permitted to see. There was also a second piece of paper, on which the Flight Leader would write down who would be participating in each event. Jarid took the paper up to his room and read it at his desk.

He could tell almost immediately that the first challenge of the tournament was assigning each member of his flight to the correct scenario. The first scenario was a straight up duel on a small, raised platform in the dragon dome.

The second, involved playing a game of mage’s chess. Jarid wasn’t sure what mage’s chess was, but it sounded like a strategy focused event. However, it was possible someone with strong magic could ignore strategy and simply blast through their opponent.

The third scenario required each participant to defend a dragon sized dummy from the magic attacks of an instructor. The one who lasted the longest or sustained the least amount of damage would be the winner. The fourth scenario involved sneaking through the forest to retrieve a life-sized doll and returning with it unharmed.

The fifth scenario was a race to The Perch. He remembered the long hike up to the peak of the mountain Black Squad had done during his first few days at the academy. He was beginning to see a theme to the events. Each was designed to fit the different roles in a flight.

The sixth scenario sounded like target practice while maneuvering through an obstacle course. Jarid wondered how challenging it would be compared to the course he had fought through to be accepted into the academy.

The final scenario involved something similar to king of the hill. Holding onto a golden circlet would earn you points over time, and whoever had the most points by the end would win. It said nothing about harming your opponent, so it seemed like making them unable to take the circlet back was also an option.

At the bottom of the page was a small, seemingly insignificant clause.

“Each member of a flight may only participate in one scenario. If any flight cannot participate in one of these events due to lack of available members, a random draw will be taken from the members of the entire squad. In this case, it is possible for a flight member to participate twice.”

“So, basically… The last scenario will end up being a random member of our squad, which is the same thing as our flight anyway,” Jarid muttered to himself.

Hopefully they could win the first four games and not have to worry about it. Assigning your strongest members to the first four or five games was certainly a possible strategy, but if his opponent did the same thing… No. He simply had to place everyone in scenarios they were most suited for.

After almost an hour thinking things over, he decided to go with the obvious choice for each event. Airel would compete in the first event, then Ethan in the second. Ben would use his earth magic for defence in the third event, while Airel could use her stealth and speed in the fourth event. The fifth event was tough to decide but Steven was their scout for a reason, so he would take the racing event. Lastly, Jarid himself would participate in the attack focused sixth event.

With that decided, Jarid wrote everything down on the letter provided and handed it back to Gunther. The grizzled squad leader looked at his choices before giving him a curt nod and leaving the dorm.

Jarid joined the others in the training room to strategize with the limited information they had been given. Other than taking a brief break for lunch, they never left the training hall. Most of the time was spent talking about the tournament and catching Jarid up on the lessons he had missed, but there were also a few key events that had occurred while he was away.

The academy had been in an uproar over the last few weeks as new policies were implemented about the way new dragons were trained. Namely, that violence was only to be used as a last resort when training them, and a longer period of rider and dragon bonding would be required. There were a few complaints at first about the longer training time, but the whole thing blew up when it was leaked that a commoner came up with the idea. This created a hardline faction of nobles whose pride would not allow an idea tainted by commoner ideology to become policy at their academy.

Many of them had even tried to discredit Black Squad and have them disbanded. If not for the commander and other key nobles like Brom, they might have succeeded. Other nobles backed Lt. Briar, saying that he had simply been trying to protect noble pride after a lowly peasant dared to insult him. This had eventually gotten him released under the condition he never taught again. He was preparing to leave for the front lines in three days but the fact he was walking around free had Jarid worried. All he could do was hope they didn’t run into each other.

Thankfully there was an upside to this dichotomy. Many nobles who disliked the hardline faction were joining together in support of Black Squad. Not that they actually gave them much help. Mostly they just stopped the hardline faction from getting them thrown out of the academy and prevented them from cheating too obviously. Jarid was grateful for this. He was confident that they could win so long as the hardline faction didn’t interfere with the tournament.

Gunther came in as they were finishing their talks.

“Grey Squad lost their match. You will be facing Red Squad in the finals tomorrow morning. You will be meeting your opponent in the dragon dome at first light. Is there anything you require of me before the tournament? I will be there for you whenever you need me.”

“I think we’re good,” Steven spoke confidently. “All of us have cooked up solid strategies for our matches, and now that Jarid’s back, this should be a breeze.”

Gunther’s solemn expression didn’t change in response to Steven’s words but his tone darkened slightly. “The enemy you face is a squad of the academy’s best students. I doubt even the nobility who support you want your victory to be easy. Self-assured and boastful words should only be used to bolster the confidence of nervous allies in the face of conflict. They should not be used when replying to a superior. Such words only make you seem arrogant and ignorant.”

After glancing around to see if anyone had anything else to say, Gunther exited the room.

Jarid watched him go. Looking back, Gunther hardly ever stepped in to offer advice unless they asked him for it, but whenever they needed it, he was always there to provide exactly what the situation called for. It reminded Jarid of the first day he had arrived.

“No one can make it through this academy alone,” he whispered.

“What did you say?” Ben asked.

Jarid waved dismissively. “Nothing important. Let’s discuss what members of Red Squad we will likely be facing again.”

That night Jarid could hardly sleep. It felt like he would be fighting for Shadow’s life tomorrow. No matter how confident he was that they would win, he couldn’t stop worrying.

The next morning greeted Jarid with a chilly wind on his cheek. There was also a light fog drifting through the academy grounds. Black Squad went to the dragon dome just as the first rays of light were breaking over the mountains. The spikes lining the dragon dome looked eerie in the grey light piercing through the morning fog.

The stands in the arena were packed with students and teachers, some of whom Jarid recognised and some he did not. He spotted the flight from Red Squad along with their Squad Leader in the middle of the arena. There were also several officials present, none of whom Jarid recognized. Each of them stood beside a Flame Wing.

“Well. I finally behold the commoner who rose all the way to Flight Leader,” commented one of the members of Red Squad.

Jarid quickly noticed the wings on his shoulder and gave him a respectful bow. “We may not have faced each other before, but I too have heard of your exploits, Flight Leader Logi.”

Logi smiled and nodded. “Thank you. I hope your little vacation hasn’t dulled your edge. I quite enjoyed watching your fight with Lt. Briar.”

Jarid looked up and grinned back. “I also look forward to showing you just how sharp my edge has become.” Then he stood and gestured to the rest of his squad.

“I am not the only one who has been sharpening my blade though. Allow me to introduce Ben, Ethan, Airel, Felicia, and Steven. We are Black Squad, and we will be your opponents.”

Logi gestured to his squad in turn. “This is Bruni, Eldr, Helviti, Eitri, Brokkr, and Kaun. We are Red Squad, the ones who have earned the privilege of putting you in your place.

Every single member of Red Squad was stout and muscular. Their uniforms looked fresh, as if they had just purchased new ones and had the gold and red symbol of Red Squad emblazoned over their hearts. Most of their hair was dark or light brown but Logi and Kaun had bright red hair.

“The first event will begin shortly. May Eitri and Felicia please join your assigned rider.” One of the officials called.

“But she was supposed to participate in the fourth event,” Jarid protested. “I assigned her to be the one who snuck through the forest to retrieve the doll.”

The official scowled. “This is that event. You must have gotten the order wrong. This was the order you received, was it not, Flight Leader Logi?”

“This is the order of events that I received sir,” Logi replied with an overly elegant bow.

Jarid was frustrated but also slightly glad that he had based their assignments on ability rather than trying to win by having their strongest participate first. He had no doubt the nobility were the ones manipulating things as the rest of the order was revealed.

Felicia would be fighting in the first round, Airel in the second, Ethan in the third, Ben in the fourth, Steven in the fifth, and Jarid in the sixth, with the tie breaker round still being a hold the crown type of game.

Felicia and Eitri both received the armor of protection that would remove them from the battle if they received fatal wounds. Jarid remembered how strange it had felt being whisked away to the stands by that same armor when he fought adult dragons earlier in his training.

Felicia said her goodbyes and mounted one of the Flame Wings alongside its rider. Eitri mounted a different dragon and both dragons walked out of the dragon dome before soaring off towards the forest in the valley floor.

“Fear not spectators, for you have not been left out of this event!” the official who had announced the event earlier proclaimed, as he wheeled out a strange looking flat metal box with a round piece of glass attached to one side. Suddenly light shone from inside the box and Jarid could see the backs of two dragons displayed on the walls of the arena. Each half of the arena wall showed one perspective of a participant.

“The armor worn by the participants was specially augmented for this tournament. Using this device, we can see everything that will transpire through the eyes of the participants. The participants will not be able to hear us nor us hear them. The riders should be explaining the rules to the participants as I will be explaining them to you,” the official announced before speaking to those on the arena floor.

“This artifact along with the armor were discovered in the king’s treasury and both are older than even the Magic City. It is a priceless artifact so damaging it will result in your death. Please be careful,” he finished in a slightly ominous tone.

Jarid nodded and sat down. Everyone else sat in a small circle to watch events unfold. Meanwhile the official began explaining the rules of the event.

“In this event the participants will be randomly assigned attacker or defender roles. A doll has been placed in the forest and will act as a prisoner of war. The attacker’s role is to retrieve or kill the prisoner without being captured himself. If the defender kills the attacker before they can kill the prisoner, or captures them at any point, they will win.”

On the left side of the arena Jarid saw Felicia’s hands holding the dragon as she dismounted in a small clearing. Nearby there was a metal cage with a wooden doll the size of a man sitting inside. It seemed that she would be the defender.

Felicia smartly grew vines all around the cage to protect it, then added additional layers slowly as she watched the surrounding forest.

On the right hand side of the arena Jarid could see Eitri making his way through the forest with a map. It only took him a few minutes to find Felicia’s base. Tucking the map in his pocket, Eitri walked out boldly in front of Felicia. On Felicia’s view Jarid could see his confident swagger as he approached.

As soon as Felicia saw him, she attacked using hardened blades of grass which shot out of the ground at her opponent. At the same time, she grew the grass in front of her into a wall.

Eitri didn’t even pause to work out strategy, he simply threw out his hands and a small vortex of flame erupted from them towards Felicia. All her grass blades turned to ash and her wall caught fire. Etri continued walking forward as he pressed the flames further and further until they even reached the barrier around the cage.

As the flames licked around her Felicia held her ground. She seemed to be looking around for a way out but wasn’t sure what to do. The flames started to surround Felicia, and she was forced to grow her barrier into a dome around herself.

It was difficult to see Eitri’s face as he simply poured more and more flame into her barrier but from the shaking of the screen it looked like he was laughing. But Jarid noticed that Felicia’s barrier wasn’t taking much damage from the flames. The outside was charred but the inside looked completely untouched. For a moment Jarid was hopeful that Felicia would be able to turn this around, but then Eitri suddenly started sprinting away.

Felicia held her barrier for a minute longer just in case it was a trick but when she opened her barrier she realized why he had stopped. The cage was burning, and the prisoner inside had been set alight as well. Felicia dashed in the direction Eitri had gone but quickly lost track of him. Less than a minute later a Jarid heard a horn in the distance that signaled the end of the first event.

Jarid sighed in frustration. Eitri had never intended on rescuing the prisoner! He hadn’t even given Felicia the chance to fight back. As much as he hated it, Jarid had to admit it was a good strategy. Now they were behind and would have to win the next two rounds to take the lead.

Jarid looked at Airel, and she nodded with determination. No matter what, they were not going to lose!