Interlude (Part 5) - Quin and Isan

"The sun shined off Hallan's scales, it was quite blinding following him and Isan so closely. The closer we got to the battle the more we heard the clanging of swords and screams of magic. It only took a few minutes for us to get there.

From the two sides that had collided ours had lost fewer people than the enemy team. Henry was standing on his dragon, Inglora, his brown hair standing on end as the wind rushed through it. He was throwing small blades and aiming at the enemies necklaces; the blades were made of iron around 4 inches long and inscribed with runes to help make them be lighter and aim for the users target better.

Inglora was a huge dragon, he stood close to 4.5 metres tall [14.7 ft] his legs were as thick as the trees down below; he was one of the biggest dragons in camp and was known to have a short temper. Taking it out in the exercises and making the necklaces of those who stood against him activate to keep them safe from his brutal hits; not only hitting his opponents but even taking out his claws to leave marks on them which was something most dragons wouldn't do out of courtesy to their opponents.

Henry and his partner weren't just our leaders, they were our best attackers.

The enemy squads were trying to free themselves from our team just to attempt to do a group attack against Henry and Inglora, but our team were pretty good at keeping their own ground.

When a rider is attacking another on dragon back, if they weren't throwing anything the dragons would rush each other and clamp onto each other. Giving the riders a chance to exchange blows but having to be careful not to have their necklaces activated.

There were so many different colours of dragons and types that it was quite easy to make a match up with an opponent on the other team, however. Isan and I had a tactic where Hallan and he would attack someone and I would jump off Leora and sneak attack them before jumping off after activating their necklace.

The jump back was always the worse part because Hallan would have to make sure to either take out the dragon completely or Leora would have to fly closer and bite at the enemies dragon to keep it at bay.

I noticed the VIP dropping down into the forest, trying to use the body of a fallen comrades dragon to cover him and the dragon he was on. I signalled to Isan by closing my fist, hitting my chest and pointing to the falling dragon with the rider on it.

Leora closed her wings and we dived.

Avoiding the few people fighting under us, we were getting closer and closer to the VIP, he pulled away from the falling teammate and glided into the undergrowth of the trees. We followed as closely as we could.

When we got to just under the tree leaves we looked around and both him and the dragon had disappeared which didn't make sense, his dragon was a bright yellow colour and it should have stood out in the shadows of the trees.

Leora managed to see some tracks, deeply pushed into the dirt. They seemed to walk for a few metres before disappearing, we followed them as much as we could; reaching the end and staring up at the area they had disappeared into.

We stood for two minutes in silence, only communicating with magic to keep our noise to a minimum. Having my sword out at the ready on her back we took a step forward, a cold sickness passing through our bodies a thing veil of yellow aura covering us.

As we took the step forward the yellow dragon appeared standing on two legs and pressing down onto Leora trying to squish us under his weight. Leora jumped to the side letting out a roar at the dragon, the earth-shaking as its paws slammed into the dirt where we just were.

The dragon let out a snarl, turning and lunging at us again. Leora barely managed to get us out of it that hit. I heard a cackle from the dragons back and jumped up as best as I could, trying to get over the head of the yellow dragon.

I saw the VIP glowing with magic aura, more than I had ever seen on anyone else ever before. He had short hair, a bit of a belly and was sat there acting like he was a king. I grabbed one of the dragons yellow horns and threw myself over and kicked the boy off his saddle.

Roaring and trying to turn its head to bite me, Leora bit into the necklace of the yellow dragon knocking it out. It let out a yelp and collapsed onto the ground, its eyes rolling into its skull. I had managed to knock the kid off his saddle, he fell down the dragon's wing and rolled over pushing himself up, his arms shaking.

He barely had time to take out his sword before I slid down and stabbed his necklace, I could hear him cursing my name before falling onto the ground. A loud dong was released from both Leora's necklace and mine, telling us the exercise was over and it was time to fly back to the camp.

Those that were beaten would have a teacher come to wake them up and take them back. I met up with Henry and Isan flying back to the camp, when we got back we were served dinner and told to wash up and sleep.

The next day at breakfast inspection we found out that I was graduating and that I should get myself ready for the graduation ceremony. My whole squad celebrated and both Leora and I were excited over finishing camp, we had already been there for four years and it was time for us to leave now..."

Smiling at the memory and looking at Noah who hadn't said a word through the whole thing. His mouth was dry over such an intense story, it made him a little upset he didn't have a dragon to go through such adventures with.

"Master, not to be rude; but what happened to Leora? Where is she?"

Quins face dropped, a sullen look coming over his face. His eyes looked like they sunk back into his skull after the story. Coughing before saying to Noah, "She isn't here anymore. Kid, Don't ask anymore than that." Barking the last part and leaving for the house.

Noah laid there confused, pieces slowly clicking into place that something must have happened to Leora making Quin retire early. Especially if he was close to the same age as Sir Isan. He could only feel bad for his Master and the loss he must be feeling.

Deciding to give his master some time alone, Noah walked away and practised some more by himself.