DragonTongue

Kital woke the next morning to someone shuffling about in her room. Keeping up the appearances that she was sleeping, the girl shifted and groaned. Her hand found the staff she used occasionally to practice with and she barely opened her eyes. The figure was coming over to her bed; she gripped the staff harder and swung.

The man ducked and grabbed her wrist. He pinned the right hand to the bed while Kital aimed her left hand for an open palmed smack to the man’s cheek.

He grabbed that hand too and slammed it against the edge of the bed.

At that time, the lights went on and the door slammed open. Kital took the man’s apparent surprise to her advantage and kicked him off of her.

“My, my, Lobo; you didn’t tell me you were dropping by!” Aramis laughed. He helped the young man to his feet and Kital flushed, furious.

“He came into MY room and attacked ME!”

“You swung at him, Kital; he was defending himself.” Amile chuckled.

Kital flushed deeper; sometimes having a wizard for a foster mother was very difficult. “He shouldn’t have been in my room.”

“And you’re absolutely right.” Amile glared at Lobo, who blushed and stammered an apology to Kital and Amile.

“That would be my fault, Amile; I was testing both of them.” Aramis said in defense of his apprentice. “I wanted to see how the two would respond to such a situation.”

“Well now you’ve seen it.” Amile huffed. “Do that again and it’s your neck!”

Aramis raised his hands in a defensive gesture. “My apologies, Amile; really!”

“Never mind it; we need to get started.” Amile motioned to Kital, who was sitting sleepily on the bed. “Kital, get dressed.”

“But it’s not even dawn!” The girl protested. “The sun won’t be up—“

The look on Amile’s face said more than enough to quiet Kital. “Now, Kital.”

Without another word, Kital lethargically moved to obey. She glared at the two men. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all.” Lobo teased, receiving a smack on the back of the head from Aramis.

“We’ll be outside.” The older man pushed his apprentice out the door.

Ten minutes later found all four in a clearing some yards away from the Academy. There were enough trees around to provide ample covering, however, and the group could remain unseen from the sky; if Arcturus was in the area as Aramis said, then he would put a quick stop to the training—violently so.

Aramis told Lobo to stand on one side of the clearing while he assisted Kital; the boy did so, rather impatiently. Amile watched on serenely seated on a log on Kital’s side of the clearing.

“You have to learn to fight, Kital; it’s your second survival. Some dragons and humans are unresponsive to spells, particularly the highly intelligent ones.” Aramis said, holding a wooden broadsword similar to the real sword Lobo had strapped across his back.

“Not true.” Kital scoffed. “I can hex anyone.”

Aramis raised an eyebrow. “Really. Hex me, then.” He stood ten feet in front of her

“Fine.” Kital said the first thing that came to her mind—a blinding spell. It would blind Aramis temporarily, giving her time to prep another hex. “Temporamus optima yielde!”

Aramis just stood there. His eyes were fine.

Kital’s jaw dropped. She tried an immobilizing spell, which would send Aramis to the ground and keep him motionless.

It had no effect either. “Give it a rest, kiddo; I told you—some dragons and humans are unaffected by magic.”

Kital, reprimanded, let her arms fall to her sides. “I give up.”

“No, you don’t. That’s where fighting comes in. The human or dragon will most likely attack you following a spell, so the first thing you need to learn is defense. Lobo!” Aramis shouted over his shoulder at the boy, who stood, happy for something to do.

Aramis walked out some yards into the clearing and Lobo met him there. They bowed to each other and assumed fighting stances. Aramis took the offensive, shouting an incantation that had no affect on Lobo; the boy charged. Aramis blocked the blow, which, had it been a real sword, could have cleaved him in half. “See? The importance of defense. If your magic fails against an opponent, you’re not helpless.”

Kital watched with rising interest as the two men ‘battled’ in demonstrating for another several hours.

Finally, Lobo walked over and handed his practice sword to Kital, who just stared at it blankly. “Use it, stupid!”

“Now, Lobo, be nice.” Aramis chuckled. “Kital, come over here; we’re going to do some drills.”

Kital glared at Lobo, who smirked back, and walked over to Aramis. He showed her how to sheath and unsheathe a sword properly, without injury, first. Kital eventually got the hang of it, after several hours and Aramis moved onto defense.

“But why defense?” Kital questioned. “Attacking is better—you get what you want done.”

“Okay, then, if you see it that way, attack me.” Aramis set himself up in a standard two-handed stance, legs spread shoulder width apart.

[He’s making this too easy.] Kital lunged at Aramis, bringing her wooden longsword around to crash against Aramis’ ribs.

It never made it. Faster than Kital thought possible, Aramis parried the blow, sending her off to the her right, then grabbed her left wrist. Panicking, Kital brought the longsword up and around. The blow was blocked and the longsword knocked away, and Aramis, who still had a good grip on her wrist, flipped Kital’s tiny form to the ground. Kital tried to rise, but foud a wooden point at her chest. “You can stop now; you were already dead.”

Lobo laughed out loud. “He proved you wrong on TWO points! Now what’s next?!”

Kital scowled from the ground. “Shut up.” Aramis helped her up while scolding Lobo.

“You two need to learn to work together; you’re the last remaining hope for the future of humans.”

Kital’s jaw dropped and Lobo laughed aloud. “You’ve got to be kidding me! SHE’S going to be working with ME?! She’s just a kid! On top of that, a mage! How in the hell would I be able to work with a—mpph?!”

The rant was stopped and the boy’s mouth just froze shut. He looked down at Kital with an astonished glance; the girl smirked. “You were saying?”

“Mmmphmmffmm!!” Lobo continued shouting—or trying to while Kital ignored him.

“Why us? There’s hundreds of mages and fighters if you look in any village.” She asked Aramis.

“Because none have the abilities you both have.” Amile, who had been silently watching, said. “No other mage can or has learned the dragon tongue as fast as Kital, Lobo. She would be able to identify allies versus enemies in them.”

Kital fairly swelled with pride. “See? That’s what you get for being a jerk.”

Amile chuckled and overrode Kital’s silencing spell on Lobo. “And Kital, Lobo is one of the best fighters of his age. You have not been trained from birth as he had to fight and DEFEND.”

Lobo let out a loud guffaw. “HAH!”

“Quiet, both of you!” Aramis scolded. “We’re not asking you to get married or anything; just work together to rid the world of Arcturus and his minions so humans and dragons can coexist like they did ages past.”

“Work with such an immature brat? Never!” Lobo turned his back on the group with a deep “hmph”.

“And why should I play second to a pompous jerk?! Not in any millennia!” Kital did the same.

Aramis sighed. “At least they’re agreeing on one thing.”

Amile joined suit. “It’s going to be a long week.”