Another chapter done! Hope you enjoy, and please, please, please review!

Chapter 14:

Tempers Flare

A light drizzle of rain had begun to fall while Fenrir sat alone at the edge of the clearing. He still had not heard them continue sparring, only their murmurs and whispers amongst themselves. He was irritated that he could not make out what it was they were saying, but he assumed it was about him.

Soon he heard footsteps approaching him. He compared the time between footfalls and the size of the impression left on the grass to what he had heard before and guessed it was Evalette.

"Fenrir?"

"What Evalette?"

"Are you alright?"

"I am wonderful, thank you for asking"

He heard the damp grass crunch as she took a half-step back, apparently hurt by his tone.

He sighed.

"I am sorry."

"No, it is fine, I understand your frustration. It must be hard to deal with… er…"

"My blindness. I know what I am, Evalette, I wish all of you would stop treating me like some cripple."

"We are only trying to help…"

"I don't need help!" He stood as his temper flared. "I don't need pity, I don't need sympathy!"

After a few seconds of silence following his outburst, he heard Evalette's rough tunic rub against her cheek. She was crying…

"Yes you do Fenrir, more than you know."

She shuffled hurriedly away through the wet grass, back to the others.

He dropped back to his spot against the tree. He could feel his clothes become damp as the now-muddy ground soaked in. A minute passed, then he heard more footsteps approaching. He assumed it was Evalette again.

Until he was punched hard across the jaw.

"Your sister came to comfort you!" a very irate Valeria hissed at him.

He spat a small amount of blood into the mud and rubbed his sore face.

"I don't need comforting."

"Drop the act Fenrir. Stop trying to be the tough guy and let's work as a team, like Ebrithil told us to."

There was a moment of silence before she continued, "My hand is in front of you, sightless. Take it and get up."

He gave in and raised his hand. She grasped it and helped him up and they began walking back towards the others.

"Sorry about your face… even though you kind of deserved it."

He gave a slight nod of acknowledgement, but remained silent. He heard footsteps coming toward him and measured it to be the Queen.

"Ah, Fenrir, decided to rejoin us? If you're done with your pouting, I have a special challenge for you. Since you're so confident against a single opponent, we decided we would give you a challenge. You alone will defend against the assault of your fellow Riders. You all may attack when ready."

Fenrir had barely heard the final word before Icerara's battle cry rang through the air.

Of course he would be the idiot to attack first, and in such an obvious manner.

He sidestepped the large Elf's brutish attack and heard his fist whistle past him. Immediately he was swept off his feet from behind by an unknown foe. He heard them draw in their breath in preparation for a finishing blow and Fenrir rolled to the side. He heard an impact in the mud right where his stomach had just been, and lashed a quick kick out at the spot.

His foot connected with someone and he heard Valeria grunt. There was a sharp pain as Icerara landed a blow on the left side of his torso. Fenrir grabbed him by the arm before he could pull back and spun around, using the Elf's own body weight to slam him into the ground. He heard mud sloshing beneath him and jumped off the ground, narrowly avoiding someone's sweeping legs. Someone small, Aerin most likely, leapt and tackled him to the ground in mid-air. He easily shoved the light Elf off of him but was met by a solid kick dropping onto his chest. He gasped for air to re-enter his lungs before grabbing the attacker's leg and rolling, pinning them to the ground.

He heard someone approach from behind him and he released his unknown victim's leg and roll backwards, delivering a kick to the chest of a certain hulking Elf. His previously pinned-down victim had apparently recovered and jumped on him wrapping their arms around his neck. He struggled to free himself as he desperately tried to breathe. The small Aerin swept her petite legs out from under him, further increasing his difficulty. Icerara stomped towards him and landed his heavy fist across Fenrir's face. And another. And another.

Fenrir's mind grew hazy at the repeated blows. After the fifth punch pounded his face in, his strangler released him and he fell to the ground. He rolled onto his stomach and spat a mouthful of blood into the grass. He heard Icerara stomp over to him.

"Had enough now?"

Fenrir shot his fist towards the voice without a second thought. He heard Icerara yowl in pain as Fenir's blow caused him to bite his own tongue. He managed a small smile at the large Elf's pain in the face of victory.

He taunted the brute with a weak "Nope, have you?"

"Enough!"

The Queen stopped them before Icerara could attack again. Fenrir shakily got to his feet.

"Why Ebrithil? I was just warming up."

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself Fenrir, but this was a sparring session, not a grudge match."

"Sure fooled me."

"Fenrir, enough! If I had not signaled for Evalette to release you, you would have suffocated, so I suggest you lose your childish sense of superiority and accept that in the end, you could not stand alone against your fellow Riders. That is what I wanted to show you. You may be strong alone, but as a team, you five would be a truly formidable force."

Fenrir came to terms with the fact that it had been his own sister that had held him while he was pummeled. The Queen cleared her throat and spoke to all of them.

"Next, we will briefly go over basic magic and then we will be done for the day."

Fenrir sighed and followed the footsteps of the others as the moved to a different area of the clearing.

They proceeded to go over basic spells, most of which he already knew and had mastered long ago, but he went along with it with minimal complaints. The rest of the day dragged on with Ebrithil's "brief" lesson of magic, until at long last the day's lessons concluded, and he realized that the magic lesson had been a complete waste of time.

Aunyx and the other dragons had been told to stay at the hatchery like they were supposed to, so Fenrir was forced to allow Valeria to guide him back to his quarters, since she lived closest to him.

They walked in awkward silence most of the way, having nothing to say to each other after their long day. After a while, Valeria's footsteps slowed to a stop and she cleared her throat.

"Well, here we are. Please don't tell me I have to walk you in too…"

He laughed.

"No, I think I can make it. Thanks for the help though."

"Not a problem at all. And… sorry for punching you earlier. I mean when we weren't sparring"

They both laughed a little.

"I guess I may have been somewhat… aggressive."

"Aggressive? Try 'jerk'." She replied with a laugh.

"Yeah, alright, I was kind of a jerk."

"Yeah… well, um… see you at training tomorrow I guess."

"Yeah, see you- er, I guess I probably won't see you, but yeah, you will see me" he said with a chuckle as began to feel his way up the stairs to his room.

Valeria released a quick laugh and started off toward her own home.

Fenrir made it to his room and felt around for the bed. It was so much easier to find things outside. Here inside, nothing chirped, no wind blew, there was no movement to tell him where he was. After a few stubbed toes and near-falls, he found his way to the bed and lay down. His bruised body relaxed into the soft embrace of the bed, but before he could fall asleep, a group of footsteps entered his room.

"Who is it?"

"It is us." He recognized the voice as one of the three healers. "The Queen requested that we come to continue on your eyes."

Fenrir sighed and awaited the horrible pain of their healing.

After what felt like hours, he passed out as the third healer was halfway through his session.