First Day of Dragon Training
"Welcome to Dragon Training." Olaf the viking said, opening the gate to the dragon training arena.
Fae sighed No turning back now. she thought, as she looked around the arena, and at her fellow classmates. There was Kadlin, the village elder's great-grand niece, the twins Finnvid and Linnvid, Asher, and of course, Estrid.
"Man, I hope I get some serious scars!" Finn said eagerly, as the teens paraded into the arena.
"I'm hoping for bruises, like on my arm, or lower leg." His brother Linn replied .
"Yeah, it's only fun if you shed some blood." Estrid added, looking smugly around the ring.
"I know right." Fae put in, making the other teens turn around "Pain. Blood. Lovin it."
"Who let you in?" Kadlin said with a sneer.
Asher shot Kadlin an angry look. Fae didn't see, she hung her head, embarassed. As the teens walked over to where Olaf was standing, Asher stood beside Fae. "Don't worry about them, they're not even half the big shots they think they are. he said as they lined up with the other viking teenagers.
"Today is the day you will learn to survive a dragon attack." Olaf said to them.
Assuming we survive this at all. Fae thought.
Olaf started pacing in front of the vaults where the dragons were kept "In these containers are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight." he moved from vault to vault as he spoke "The Monsturous Nightmare, the Deadly Nadder, the Hideous Zippleback, the Terrible Terror, and-"
Linn interuppted, "Are we going to get spill some dragon guts soon?" he said, waving his hand frantically in the air.
Olaf rolled his eyes "I'm getting to that." he reached for the lever on one of the vaults. "and the gronkle."
"Whoa! Aren't you gonna teach us anything first?" Finn yelled anxiously.
"I believe in learning on the job." he said as he pulled the lever.
The gronkle burst from the vault, angrily looking around for someone to blame for its capture into that dark and hideous room. All the teens except Fae, who was trying to lift her axe, scattered.
Seeing that the teenagers required some help, Olaf called from the sidelines "Quick, what's the first thing you'll need?"
"A doctor?" Fae guessed.
"A funeral fund?" Kadlin cried.
Estrid rolled her eyes "A shield!" she shouted at the others.
At the word shield all the teens ran in search of one. Fae picked up the closet one, a solid, white and burgundy, piece of wood, with metal bolts and a rim of iron.
Coincidentally, Finn and Linn both grabbed the same shield.
"Get your hands off my shield!" Finn yelled, pulling the shield away from his brother.
"There's like a million shields!" Linn shouted back, pulling the shield towards himself.
"Take that one, it has a snake on it, little kids love snakes." he retorted, pulling the shield away again.
Linn furiously pulled the shield from his brother and hit him smack on the head "Oops, now this one has blood on it." he said, insulted about being called a little kid.
During thier argument, the gronkle had caught sight of the twins. It let loose with a blast of lava, knocking the twins silly.
"Finnvid, Linnvid you're out." Olaf called from the side.
"Huh?" "What?" Finn and Linn said, stumbling around trying to figure out what happened.
"Those shields are good for another thing, noise. Make lots of it." he informed the remaining teenagers.
Fae, Asher, and Kadlin started banging their weapons on the rim of their shields, Estrid took a bow out of her quiver, and got ready to aim.
"Each dragon has a limited number of shots. How many does a gronkle have?" Olaf questioned from the sidelines.
"Five?" Kadlin guessed.
"No six!" Asher corrected. He was immediatly targeted by the gronkle, hammer blasted out of his hand. "Uh-oh." he said, looking at the burning remains of his weapon. he turned around, coming face to face with the dragon "Uh, No hard feelings?" he inquired nervously. The dragon's nostrils flared, as it built up more lava, "I was afraid of that." he said as, the gronkle opened its mouth "Aaahhh!" Asher cried as he ran away.
"Asher you're out." Olaf said nonchalantly.
Kadlin sided up next to Fae "Normally I wouldn't talk to people like you, but I wanted ask you something." she said, as if it was Fae's fault that Kadlin bothered to say anything to her.
"What would that be?" Fae replied suspiciously.
"Your sister is totally hard core! Do ya think you could get me her autograph?" Kadlin said excitedly.
Fae rolled her eyes, disgusted.
Estrid summersaulted over to them "Are you guys gonna stand here like a bunch of idiots?" she asked them haughtily.
Fae was about to tell her to butt out when Kadlin cried "Gronkle at 12 'o clock!"
Fae and Estrid rolled out of the way just in time. Kadlin wasn't so lucky.
"Aaah!" she yelled as she was knocked to the ground.
"So just you and me?" Fae asked her sister.
Estrid looked at her like she had grown an extra limb "Nope just you." she said as she dived out of the way of the incoming disaster.
Fae's reaction time wasn't quick enough, and she was blasted into the dirt, having her shield destroyed in the process.
"Two shots left." Olaf informed the recovering teens.
"That's all I need." Estrid stated confidently. A little too confident of herself, she shot one of her arrows, it missed the gronkle by an inch. The dragon watched the arrow whiz by, then turned its attention to Estrid, who was getting ready shoot another arrow. She never got the chance, the dragon let forth a blast of lava, scorching and destroying her equipment. She looked at the dragon and then at her burning quiver in disbelief "That bow was custom made!" she cried angrily.
Fae, who was recovering from her surprise, brandished her axe. The dragon eyes were elsewhere, she could at least put in some minor damage. She wouldn't kill it, but it would at least be enough to get the village's attention. She took aim, and was about throw her weapon, when a mace knocked it out of her hand.
"Watch out!" someone called.
Fae looked up, coming face to face with the dragon. I'm doomed. she thought, squinching her eyes shut.
The dragon was about to fire, when someone threw a shield, knocking it a up a couple of inches. It's aim screwed, and its shot limit used up, Fae escaped damage, but the space above her head didn't. She opened her eyes, and sighed a breath of relief.
Olaf quickly took control and locked the gronkle back into its vault "That's all for today." he said, dismissing the teenagers.
As the teens gathered thier weapons and got ready to leave, Asher went over to pick up his shield. That was close one. he thought. As he was doing this, Finn went over to Estrid.
"Ya know that was my weapon you threw right?" he asked, dusting off his mace.
Estrid shrugged "I was just trying to get a shot, it destroyed my weapon, remember?" she said, not sounding the least bit sorry.
Trying to get a shot? That was the biggest lie Asher had ever heard! Her aim had been off by 2 feet! She had missed on purpose! Apparently she thought no one but her could be good at killing dragons. He shook his head disgustedly. Boy she sure has problems with Fae trying to show people she has any worth. he thought. A rivalry like that was bound to come to bad end, someone should tell her to take it down a notch.
He ran to catch up with Fae, who was trudging out of the arena.
"Fae!" he called "Didn't you see that? E-"
"See that I'm no good?" Fae interrupted sadly.
"No. Did you see Estrid? She made you miss on purpose!"
Fae turned to face him "Thanks for trying to cheer me up Asher, but I think we both know that I'm just worthless. I'm can't do anything right."
"Don't say that, you know it's not true." he said firmly.
"What's the point? I'm going home before Estrid can get there and gloat about how useless I am." She turned around and walked away.
Asher sighed, building her confidence was going to take alot of work. Meanwhile he still had his lack-of-a-weapon problem to deal with. He slung his shield over his back and headed toward home.
