Chapter 8 – Overcoming Adversity
"Success is to be measured not so much by the position one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome" - Booker T. Washington
Lyra's knees slammed into the ground as she fell down. She doubled over and her hands grasped desperately at her chest as if she would be able to pull her skin away. Her lungs produced nothing but small chokes of air and refused to take any in. She crumbled into herself and sucked heavily at the air around her. Finally her lungs snapped open and she managed to take in a huge gulping breath. She lay there on the ground for a moment greedily taken in air until her breathing patterns returned to normal. She forced her arms underneath her body and pushed herself back to her feet.
"You son of a bitch," she hissed out through grit teeth.
"Don't get mad at me," Link told her as he pointed a finger at her and tossed the wooden staff back to her.
"How am I not supposed to, do you know how much that hurt you bastard?"
Only moments before she had managed to less than gracefully receive a swift kick stomach which had temporarily knocked the wind out of her on account that she had not been fast enough to block it.
He shrugged and looked seriously at her. "Do you really think Juggernaut is going to wait for you to get back up? No. He'll hit you worse than that and kick you while you're down."
She frowned knowing that it was true. At the moment she was halfway through her first training session with Link. Apparently the fish-ape had convinced Monger to allow Lyra to carry weapons whenever they went out after a monster. So in order to prepare her for wielding weapons he had trained her in hand to hand combat first. Link seemed to be unbelievably well trained in martial arts so when they first practiced that he had no problem kicking her ass. After an hour of spending more time on the floor than actually sparing Lyra was finally able to move to training with weapons. He had insisted on starting with the bo staff claiming that it was the easiest weapon to learn and it would be the best one to use for her to get used to the feel of a weapon. She didn't seem to be doing too well with that either.
"Dammit," she mumbled quietly in defeat before moving into a comfortable stance in order to start another fight.
Link grinned. "That's better."
In the confines of her and Tor'ka's room they didn't have a whole lot of space to work in but to Lyra it was better than having everyone in the common room seeing her ass get royally handed to her. He charged her again and this time she hoped she was ready for him. She wasn't. She readied herself to parry his attack but just before he reached her Link slammed the stick into the ground and leapt over her head landing behind her and hitting her in the back with his weapon. She fell over again and her stick clattered to the ground.
"Damn it all I hate you," she growled.
Link let out a sigh and sat on the ground beside her eliciting a glare from the blonde. "You're focusing too much," he told her. "You've got a big brain but when you're fighting you need to turn it off. Mapping junk out doesn't work so well when you have seconds to make a decision."
Lyra considered him for a moment before sitting up onto her knees and looking at him. "I can't just stop thinking."
"Sure you can, I bet I just can't teach you to do that. That'll probably just happen." He offered her a smile as he stood up. "So how about you just copy my movements instead of letting me whoop your ass with them so when your brain finally gives up on you you'll sorta how to use these things."
"Thanks I think," she replied with a small half smile.
She stood up and examined the bo staff lying on the ground while pulling her hair away from her face. Link raised an eyebrow as he considered her for a moment. She wasn't always that small was she? Maybe it was because he usually hunched over. Her head barely made it to his chin; he had always thought she was much taller than that. Her hands were also very small compared to his.
"You're small," he stated bluntly as he ruffled a hand through her hair and walked past her to the box of wooden training weapons that Monger had given to him.
She glared at him and clenched her fists as she turned pink all the way to the tips of her ears. "Shut up...idiot."
~~~*~~~
With a huge sigh Lyra collapsed onto the ground of the common room and leaned against Tor'ka's side while the big dragon waiting like the others for his dinner to be brought in. Link had come in just before Lyra but had sat down at his place at the table seemingly unfazed by all the training. She, on the other hand, was completely swiped of energy.
"How was your training?" Tor'ka asked politely as he turned his head to her.
Lyra rolled her eyes and groaned as she sank deeper to the floor. "He's crazy," she mumbled casting a wayward glance at Link. "I'm going to have bruises in places I didn't even know could bruise."
"You wouldn't if you had learned how to block," Link called out to her with a grin.
"My God shut the hell up!" Had she not been so painfully sore she probably would've attempted to throw something at him. Instead she just looked away from him and stretched herself out on the floor unsure of when she had slid there.
Tor'ka chuckled and tilted his head in curiosity. "What in the world happened my dear?"
"He tried to teach me how to use weapons so I'd be able to fight," she explained.
"I take it he taught you this by sparring with you?"
There was a long awkward silence before Link burst into laughter drawing all eyes to him.
"Stop eavesdropping!" Lyra wanted to beat him for embarrassing her but she knew all her strength was gone.
"I only sparred with you for the first hour and a half," Link said when he finally stopped laughing. "After that I just asked her to copy what I did. She beat the crap out of herself all on her own!"
She growled angrily and her face went bright red. She had tried her best! Unfortunately her best asset was her speed. However she was a little too fast when it came to wielding the weapons and she had mishandled each one at least twice. Luckily they were all wooden or she'd be missing most of her limbs. The only weapon she'd done even remotely well with were a pair of Scottish Dirk knifes; or at least she had done the least amount of damage to herself with them. Link had ultimately decided that though they would work on those he'd pick a couple of smaller daggers to hide in her boots and such, and that he would also teach her how to use a short sword.
She released a heavy sigh and closed her eyes. Survival was one thing; that only required stamina and speed which she had. But she had never needed to fight very much as Tor'ka never let her fall into any situation where she'd have to. Anything she knew how to do was with her own two fists and had no real technique to it at all. However this training with weapons required unbelievable technique. She couldn't even believe that Link knew who to use all of them but he did certainly seem to be a skilled enough fighter when it came to hand to hand combat that she'd just have to trust him. Not only that but he did a pretty good job of kicking her ass with whatever wooden weapon he picked up.
"Why can't they just give me a big gun," she muttered angrily to herself.
~~~*~~~
The moon hung high and the stars glittered against the pitch black background as the ocean just outside of Ramsgate shimmered with the faint light. The waters lapped against the pale sand but receded quickly when ashen gray feet stepped towards it. They slowly chased the water back as far as it would go before striding into it and shattering its peaceful appearance. Juggernaut took another quick look around to make sure that he wasn't being watched before stepping farther into the water. He adjusted the deceased man draped across his shoulder as the water reached his waist.
"This is too bad," Juggernaut spoke calmly as if the corpse could still hear him. "I could've sworn that you would do much better than the others."
He lowered the man's naked body into the water and watched as it floated for a moment. The moon illuminated the nearly translucent pale skin and bald head before his body started to melt. The water pulled at the edges of it until it stretched out along the surface of the water; its skin nearly invisible against the ocean and its bones no longer existent while it's organs oozed below the water to fall into the sand. And with one final ripple of the tide the last of the man disappeared into the water leaving no trace of his death.
Juggernaut considered the scene momentarily before turning back towards the shore. "I need to change something," he stated with a frown. "I suppose I should start over and do this right the first time."
His powerful legs took him quickly and stealthily back towards his home. A new plan formulated in his mind but there were things that he'd need to take care of first.
~~~*~~~
Tor'ka couldn't help but smile as Lyra yawned and snuggled closer into his side. She had been up for a good deal of the night trying to put together her newest creation. He hadn't quite approved of her stealing Doctor Cockroach's invention in order to work on her own however she had good enough intentions that he couldn't bring himself to make her return the invention.
"Susan's done a lot for me," Lyra said as she popped the snow globe apart and began to peel away Doc's machine piece by piece. "And I know how to fix his machine...it's so simple."
"Lyra," he scolded. "You cannot justify thievery."
"Trust me Tor'ka Doc will thank me for this in the end." She paused in her work to look up at him. "I'm going to repay Susan by fixing this thing so she can be normal again if she wants to. I'm sure in the end Doc will forgive me..." Her words trailed off as she focused on her work again and proceeded to ignore him.
Tor'ka considered waking her for a moment and calling it justice; she deserved some sort of punishment for being a thief. But he found after a moment that he didn't have the heart to wake her. Instead he folded his wing around her and succumbed to sleep himself.
~~~*~~~
"Tor'ka."
Tor'ka roused from his sleep lazily but refused to open his eyes though he felt the sun attempting to force them to part. Something pushed delicately against his side and he opened one eye a crack to see eager green eyes staring back at him. With a playful smirk and a fake groan he rolled to the side and captured the small being underneath his arm gently as it let out a surprised squeak. It struggled beneath his arm kicking frantically at it.
"You're heavy," it whined weakly in a small feminine voice.
He finally let out a small chuckle and opened his eyes fully as he stood up and released the child from underneath his arm. The small white dragon glared at him with as much anger as she could muster which still ended up making her look terribly adorable. Her color had yet to develop and being only six feet tall and thirty moons old she had quite a long way to go before she would ever achieve it. Though the white suited his youngling well he imagined her scales would turn gold or maybe even the same green of her eyes once she became of age.
"Dearest," Tor'ka complained childishly. "I believe our daughter has just called me fat."
A laugh as sweet as honey sounded behind him and he turned his head to see his mate Shidan'aru smiling gently at him. Her pale blue scales glittered with the morning light and dew that coated her and her narrow pointed head faced him enough that he could look directly into her shimmering emerald eyes.
"Lin'ara, love, why don't you go see if you can catch something for your breakfast before you make your father cry," Shidan'aru suggested sweetly.
The small white dragon flapped her tiny wings out proudly before stumbling away through the large field that stretched towards a large town that would one day grow into Los Angeles.
"She'll be so beautiful," Tor'ka mused as he brushed his face against his mate's. "Just like her mother."
Shidan'aru smiled softly. "She's maturing so fast I can hardly keep up with her."
It didn't take long for their youngling to find some food as these feilds were littered with small birds and animals. The couple watched happily as Lin'ara proudly waddled her way towards them with a decent sized raven clamped firmly in her jaws. She held her head high as she dropped it in front of her parents.
"Wonderful darling," her mother cooed. "You're such an exceptional hunter!"
Tor'ka bent down and snuggled his head against his daughter as his heart swelled. "If you continue to be so wonderful at everything I may just have to keep you all to myself!"
"You're silly Daddy," the youngling said with a laugh.
"Tor'ka! Shidan'aru!" The cry startled the family and they turned to find Joseph running towards them.
The young man worked as a labourer at the king's palace and due to his fascination with the dragons they had been friends with them since the day they had met. They had shared stories with each other over their years as friends and Joseph had taken a great part in the raising of Lin'ara. It had been raining the night of her birth and instead of letting them tromp around in the cold looking for shelter for her he had offered them his home, small as it was, as shelter for the newborn until the weather was well enough for her to leave.
"Joseph you seem distressed," Shidan'aru stated softly as she opened her wing to him to usher him closer.
"You must flee," Joseph urged through panting breathes as he leaned against Shidan'aru's flank for support.
"What is the matter Joseph," Tor'ka asked as he leaned towards the human man.
"The king," he breathed out. "I have just overheard the king's orders! He plans to kill off all of the dragons!"
"What!" Tor'ka recoiled in shock and Lin'ara cowered against his side for protection. The king couldn't possibly...the dragons had all migrated to this area after the king had offered them refuge on the grounds that they would help him fight any war. Though they were naturally peaceful creatures they had agreed knowing that they would also be protecting their new home. There weren't many places that accepted them. After that one time the Hi'toma accidentally sneezed on a princess then panicked and ate the charred remains in a failed attempt to hide what had happened they had been chased away from everywhere they attempted to live. There were hardly twenty-five left alive in the world and all lived here where they only needed to protect the king's land in return for a home. "He can't do this to us," Tor'ka bellowed angrily. "What could his reasons possibly be?!"
"He says that he is afraid that you may all be getting too comfortable here and that you might choose to overthrow him. He knows that you are all so powerful and he doesn't want that power to turn on him. The order was just being sent to the soldiers when I heard all this. Please you don't have much time!"
"Let him come," Tor'ka growled as he flared his wings out. "If he fears our power so much than let us show him what he truly need fear!"
"You mustn't," Joseph hissed in worry. "You may be able to take many of them on and even win but you can't possibly block all of their attacks and what if an arrow got through? Lin'ara hasn't grown her mature scales yet..."
Tor'ka froze and looked down at his daughter. She was his everything and there was no way he would take even the slightest chance that she would be harmed.
"We will find somewhere to flee to then," Tor'ka said. "Joseph, thank you for what you have done. I hope I will one day be able to repay your kindness."
Tor'ka dipped his head in a swift bow before stretching out his wings and soaring into the air. Shidan'aru clamped her jaws softly around Lin'ara's delicate body before following swiftly. They soared through the air and Tor'ka released a cry of warning into the sky in hopes of alerting the other dragons to the problem. Within moments many others joined them in the air though Tor'ka couldn't help but notice that there were still a number of dragons missing from their pod.
"The soldiers have already reached the others," Bees'co told him as the massive dark green flew up on the other side of Tor'ka. "The serving wench Natalia came to warn us only moments ago of the impending attack. I'm afraid many families weren't as fortunate."
"They won't go down that easy," Tor'ka stated as calmly as he could.
"Maybe not but it appears as though the king has the entire city rallied against us. I doubt we would all be able to survive much and I won't risk my son's life either."
They heard the cries of fury erupt from far below though they were almost to the clouds and everything below them was too miniscule to ascertain the whereabouts of the cry. Tor'ka noticed Lin'ara whimpering beside him and he stretched his neck over to softly nuzzle her.
"Do not worry, I will never let anything happen to you."
Words that were spoken far too soon. No one had seen the enormous catapults being pulled after them or the flames that licked around the large chunks of rubble that were loaded in them. And Shindan'aru was the first to fall. The large flaming boulder had been thrown at such an angle that it nearly went straight into the sky and smashed powerfully into Shidan'aru's underside. Males and females were built differently; while males have armored scales everywhere along their body except for behind their joints and just underneath where the tail meets the rest of the body, the females lack this armor all along their underside for birthing reasons. So there was nothing to protect Tor'ka's mate from the brutal attack and her heart was crushed on impact and Lin'ara fell screaming from her jaws.
"No!" Tor'ka's scream filled the air as he broke into dive ignoring Bees'co's cries for him to stop. He folded his wings as tightly as they would as Lin'ara flapped hers as hard as she could in an attempt to slow her fall though they were far too small to carry her yet. He heard the sound of the other dragons following him. They were all a family and no one wanted to see another lose both their mate and their child. One of the other females in the pack, being much smaller and faster than him, shot past Tor'ka to scoop the youngling up in her jaws. In anger as Tor'ka flew lower knowing he would get much closer to the ground before he'd be able to maneuver upwards he released a fountain of flames that poured onto the ground to burn many of the soldiers into soot.
"Keep going," he hollered as he circled up and around to swoop down again.
"What?" The mate of the female that had saved Lin'ara stared at him in disbelief.
"Many of us have younglings and I won't risk them being hurt. Continue on and I'll hold them off for a while and I'll follow when I can." Tor'ka poured another round of fire onto the people below him and attempted to ignore the screams of protest that erupted from his daughter. The dragons listened to him though knowing that protecting the younglings would be the first priority.
It didn't take him long to demolish a good portion of the army in order to keep them at bay. However he wasn't fast enough to dodge all of the projectiles the catapults launched at him for very long. One of them connected firmly with his side and broke his wing arm sending him howling and plummeting to the ground. He crashed into the trees below him and instinctively released a breath of fire to ward off any on comers. Pain seared his side but he rose to his feet allowing his broken wing to droop pathetically to the ground beside him. Unfortunately in the trees he made an easier target than the humans. They all came at him faster than he could fight them off. Though he crippled many with his tail and murdered more with his flames it did not take long before his blood began to coat the forest floor. Of course they had known where dragons were weak; they had lived together for the past twelve years after all. He lay wounded on the ground with his eyes threatening to roll into the back of his head. He coughed out a few more pitiful flames.
"Sirs there's young one over here coming for him!"
"Let's get it, this one is already finished."
Tor'ka's eyes clouded over with tears as he struggled to his feet with his last ounce of strength. No! They couldn't have let her go…but he knew her well enough to know that once her mind was set there wasn't a force that could stop her. She would've come to help him no matter what; he had to get to her. The sounds of a youngling's pained wail filled his head and his eyes widened in horror.
"No! Lin'ara!"
~~~*~~~
Tor'ka's eyes shot open and he found Lyra staring down at him worriedly with her hands pressed to his muzzle.
"Oh thank god you're awake!"
He raised his head and shook himself fully awake before looking at her. Her eyes looked tired and her hair was thoroughly messy.
"I'm sorry my dear, did I wake you?"
"God damn it Tor'ka," she whispered sadly. "…You had the same dream again didn't you? That's the fourth night in a row."
He froze up. Had it really been dreaming of it that often? Ever since Lyra had been practicing fighting with Link he had had the same nightmare every night. The past few days felt like a blur; he only vaguely remembered Lyra finishing her machine and fighting with Doc about her stealing it and Susan coming with him so he could stretch his wings outside. He finally understood things when he really thought about it; he was worried that now that she were more trained Lyra would attempt something dangerous. Something like trying to save him…just like she had done…
"You said her name in your sleep again," Lyra mumbled quietly. "I'm so sorry Tor'ka. I have no idea what you're feeling, but…if there's anything I can do to help…"
He smiled down at her and pressed his face against her but couldn't bring himself to say anything. Suddenly the room flashed with a red light and sirens sounded. They jolted to their feet and ran quickly to the common room.
"What the hell is that?!" Lyra glared around but found Doc was the only one waiting for them there.
"It's the alarm," Doc told them solemnly. "They found Juggernaut. He's come for us."
I'm not sure if the bo staff is the easiest weapon for most people to master but I picked it because I found it to be the best beginner weapon for me. It really helped me figure out balance and coordination and was fairly easy to get used to. SO this may not be 100% but I'm writing from experiance so please understand that.
