Dragon Fate

by J. D. Hallowell

  After a light meal and a bit of pleasant conversation, they left the mess hall and joined the men gathered in the practice yard. Since practice was somewhat informal, Delno and Brock walked directly to the weapons rack and made their choices. Rita joined them, and chose a light long sword and small shield, similar to what Brock had chosen. Brock glared at Simcha until he, too, chose a practice weapon.

  Rita whispered very quietly to Delno, “Besides not wanting to practice with the ‘common folk,’ he isn’t very good. Brock’s been trying to teach him for years, centuries I think, but he just isn’t a swordsman.” Then she added grudgingly, “Hell of an archer though, and he and Janna are good together in the air.”

  Then, leaving their live steel on the other rack that was provided for the purpose, they stepped out onto the pitch, and Sergeant Smith paired them up with opponents. Delno was paired with a man he had sparred with before, and while the man was good with a blade, as were all the soldiers in Winston’s command, he wasn’t that much of a challenge. Delno was happy for the opportunity to watch the other Dragon Riders.

  Rita was right; Simcha was barely holding his own against the trooper he had been paired with.

  The trooper Rita was sparring against made the mistake of underestimating her because she was a woman. He saw her gender, her small size, and her apparent youth, and thought he saw an easy victory about to happen. Rita, however, started dancing around her opponent with grace and beauty. Her opponent, a corporal Delno had faced before, was a very good swordsman, but no matter how many strikes he made, or how fast he struck, Rita’s targ always seemed to be in the way of a score. Then he made the colossal mistake of letting her get slightly behind him: she struck faster than a snake and landed a blow to the man’s lower back that would have killed him if she hadn’t been using a blunted blade. Even through a layer of heavy-weight leather the blow nearly knocked him over. Sergeant Smith called them to halt. By this point, Delno was the only Rider left who hadn’t dispatched his opponent, so he quickly finished the match.

  The man who had been beaten by Rita was being ribbed by his comrades. He told them to just wait until their turn came up, and see if they could do better. Four more opponents stepped onto the pitch and the performances were repeated. By the end of the third set of matches, Simcha had been defeated once, and all of the men were now taking Rita very seriously.

  After sparring with the men for over an hour, they stopped sword practice for a while, and Delno, as had become routine by now, took over and taught hand-to-hand. Rita especially enjoyed the Northern style of fighting that he taught since it relied on personal energy and body mechanics much more than physical strength.

  After practicing hand-to-hand for nearly two hours, the Riders squared off against each other. Brock did the pairing, keeping Simcha and Delno separated. Delno first paired up with Rita. He found that she was indeed good, and, as he expected, she had learned her style under Brock’s tutelage. Knowing that did give him some advantage, since he had spent time learning to defend and strike against her instructor. Even so, her speed and agility still made it a tough match. She had learned to actually use her small size as an advantage, getting inside of an opponents weapon when a larger person wouldn’t have been able to do so.

  The final blow wasn’t with his sword. They had closed together and she had used a series of lightning fast strikes and cuts to get inside the arc of his main blade. He managed to lock up her blade with his and then pull her so close that she couldn’t use her shield arm. Then he simply used a stabbing strike with his main gauche. By the point of the last strike they were so close together that his lips were almost pressed to her forehead. She looked up to congratulate him as he looked down and smiled, and they were almost kissing. They were both panting, and, in actuality, they were only taking a second to breathe before untangling themselves, however, from the outside of the embrace, it did look more like the moves they were making had nothing to do with sparring.

  Brock had been taking it easy on Simcha, not wanting to humiliate the man in front of the troopers. Simcha wasn’t applying his full attention to the match; he had been watching Rita and Delno as much as possible. As Delno made his final strike and they ended up face to face like that, Simcha growled and made a savage but clumsy attack, and Brock reacted instinctively; blocking the stroke and swinging his own blade up into the man’s arm pit. Simcha grunted in pain, and Sergeant Smith called a halt.

  Brock then paired Rita with Simcha and himself with Delno. For Delno, it was pretty much the same as before; circle-attack, circle-attack. He couldn’t spare any attention while sparring with Brock, so he couldn’t see what was happening with the other two Riders. He could barely divert enough attention to listen to them. Delno soon realized that Brock had intentionally kept them close enough to hear Rita and Simcha if he paid attention in the hope that he would be distracted trying to listen to the other match. “Well, hate to disappoint you old man, but that isn’t going to work,” he thought. They continued circling and trying to find an opening in each other’s defenses.

  There was a thudding sound and a grunt of pain from Simcha followed by him saying, “Little whore.”

  Brock turned his attention to the other Riders for a second, and that was all the distraction Delno needed. He might have thought it an unfair advantage if he weren’t so sure that his mentor had planned to defeat him the same way. He lunged and scored a hit that would have pierced the man’s chest and stopped his heart if they’d been using live steel. Brock looked at him for a second, surprised he had been hit so easily, then lowered his blade and bowed. Delno returned the bow and the two men then turned to watch the other match.

  They both realized right away that things were not right. Both combatants were completely absorbed in the match, but they were also both extremely angry. Two Dragons appeared overhead, circling the garrison; they were Janna and Fahwn.

  Simcha began taunting Rita. “What’s the matter, can’t find your mark? Perhaps you’d do better if we were in a bath tub, or a bedroom.”

  Janna roared in anger, and Fahwn responded with her own throaty scream, but the antagonists on the ground ignored them both. Brock had that slightly distant look in his eye that told Delno he was in contact with Leera. He called out mentally to Geneva to be prepared to help Leera if this got out of hand.

  “Perhaps,” Rita taunted, “you should stick to beating your students into submission and leave the real fighting to those who do it well.”

  Janna and Fahwn tightened their circles above the practice yard. Leera and Geneva began circling also, but they were trying to stay between the other two dragons.

  Simcha didn’t say anything, but he made another one of those vicious but clumsy attacks, bringing his sword down on Rita’s shield so hard that the shield split and the sound of her arm breaking was audible to all present. Rita screamed in pain and rage, and Fahwn did the same in the air. Fahwn tried to make a surge at Janna, but Leera stopped her by putting her own body in the way.

  Simcha didn’t relent. He wasn’t a good swordsman, but he was a powerful man and weighed more than twice what Rita weighed. He swung again, this time aiming the blow at her head. She managed to get her sword up in time to block the strike. Leera kept Fahwn at bay, while Geneva stayed almost on top of Janna.

  Sergeant Smith called out “HALT!” but Simcha paid no attention, moving again to strike at what he believed to be a nearly helpless opponent. Delno, realizing that Simcha was now only interested in punishing Rita, moved to intercede, but wasn’t quite close enough. Fahwn was frantically trying to get around Leera. Leera may have been small for an adult dragon, but she made up for it in agility and experience.

  Rita cradled her broken arm as best she could because of the pain, letting her guard drop considerably. Simcha moved more quickly than Delno would have thought the man was capable of doing. He raised his sword over his head in both hands and charged like a mad bull before Delno could get a shield into place. Everyone watching was certain that,
even with a blunted practice blade, the young woman would be horribly wounded if not killed. Just as Simcha smiled in triumph, but before he could swing the blade, Rita planted her left foot and kicked out with all her strength; her right foot hit Simcha in the groin so hard the man was nearly lifted off his feet.

  This time it was Janna who screamed in rage and attacked Fahwn. Geneva didn’t have Leera’s agility or experience so she made up for it with sheer brute force: she rammed Janna so hard that the older dragon was nearly knocked out of the air. Delno winced at the force of the impact, which was so violent that it could be heard from the practice yard. He desperately wanted to communicate with Geneva and make sure she was all right, but he had to be content with the knowledge that she was still flying well and didn’t appear to be in distress. Since he felt no pain from her, and he needed to help Brock deal with the situation on the ground, he kept quiet.

  Simcha was doubled over in agony and Rita said, “That was for calling me a whore.” Then she grabbed his right wrist and twisted it over her head and then down and around, flipping the man onto his back. Once he was down, she straddled his arm and used her legs to get enough leverage to pull his shoulder out of joint. “That was for breaking my arm.” Then, before Brock or anyone else could stop her, she kicked him hard in the mouth. “And that was just because I’ve wanted to do it for over a hundred years, you self-righteous bastard.”

  The dragons were still in the air, but now that the actual combat was over they were more concerned about their riders than angry. Fahwn actually tried to land and get to Rita. Delno had to have Geneva make her back away so that he could help the woman. Janna was worried, but was now circling much higher with Leera keeping her from becoming a problem. It took several seconds, but Geneva was able to get Fahwn under control.

  Brock bent down to check on Simcha while Delno took Rita under his arm and moved her away from the practice pitch. She smiled weakly and leaned into him for support. She had been putting a brave face on it, but her color was ashen and the sweat running off her face was now cold. She was going into shock. Delno laid her down on the ground and began examining her arm with his magical sense. He found that both bones had been shattered by the force of the blow. There were quite a few fragments and the shards had ruptured several veins and an artery. The arm was swelling nastily and already bruising. Her hand felt cold and was turning blue. He assessed how much energy he needed to draw and then spoke, “Heal.” The fragments of bone knitted themselves together while the ruptured blood vessels closed and once again carried the blood to her hand and fingers.

  The soldiers who were near watched wide-eyed as the bruising went from purple, to black, to brownish-green, to yellow, and then to normal while the swelling went away completely. Rita’s color improved and she reached up with her right hand and touched his face and said, “Thank you, Handsome.” Then she pulled him down to her and kissed him soundly. The men standing by cheered them.

  Janna roared, apparently upset that Rita had been cared for while Simcha had not.

  “Delno,” Brock called from where he still knelt by Simcha, “I need you over here.”

  Delno got up and walked to Brock’s side. His mentor looked at him and said, “I think at least one of his testicles is ruptured. I might be able to heal him, but I’d prefer that someone who is better at it try first.”

  Delno snorted, “Take him to Nat; he can remove them before they get septic.”

  “Delno, please,” Brock replied, “I understand that you don’t like the man, but I need you to do this.”

  Janna was nearly frantic with concern for her rider; it was all Geneva and Leera could do to keep her from trying to land in the garrison’s court yard. Delno sighed and said, “All right, but I’m doing it for the sake of our friendship and the sake of his dragon. Make sure he understands that: I don’t want this man thinking he owes me anything.”

  Brock nodded once in affirmation, and Delno knelt down and began working. One of the man’s testicles had indeed been crushed completely. He called up the energy and healed the groin injuries. Simcha unfolded his body and sat up, still in pain but out of immediate danger. Brock then asked Delno to heal the dislocated shoulder and the split lip, but Delno refused.

  “Those two injuries are not life-threatening. If he would like a healer to look at him, I’m sure that either Nat or Pearce would be willing to do so. As far as I’m concerned, those injuries can stay with him for a while. Hopefully, he will learn something from this,” then he simply got up and walked back to Rita.

  Chapter 36

  The dragons settled down quickly now that their riders were no longer in danger. Geneva circled one last time. “That was a near thing, Dear One,” she said. “You handled yourself well.”

  “I should have moved more quickly and gotten a shield between the two of them and this wouldn’t have gone so far,” he responded. “That was quite a stunt you pulled up there: are you all right, Dear Heart?”

  “Never underestimate the strength of a dragon, Love; I’m fine, though Janna may be sore for a few days.”

  Delno could think of nothing to say to the last observation so he simply said, “I love you Geneva. I’ll be out to see you soon.”

  The bronze dragon angled her flight to carry her just beyond the city gates and disappeared from view below the walls.

  Rita smiled as he approached her. Her color was normal and she appeared to be completely healed. He stepped up very close to her and examined a small scratch on her forehead right at the hairline. He called up just a bit of energy and traced the scratch with his finger: it healed instantly as he did so. Rita lowered her eyes and leaned against him.

  After they had embraced for a long moment, she stepped back and said, “Thank you. I was a bit worried for a time, and Fahwn was nearly frantic. I can heal injuries, but not as well as you.”

  “I hope that I never have the need to prove my skills on you again. I was nearly as worried as Fahwn. You should be more careful; I’ve only just found you; I don’t want to lose you now.”

  “I don’t think we’ve known each other long enough to be professing our undying love at this point,” she said seriously.

  “Who said anything about undying love?” he replied with a mischievous look in his eyes, “I just really like the way you look almost wrapped in a towel.”

  She smiled at him and winked. Then her look turned serious and she said, “Look, Delno, about the situation I’ve put you in the middle of here.”

  He put two fingers gently to her lips to silence her and said, “Not now; later, when we don’t have an audience.”

  She looked around and realized that most of the men of the garrison were still watching them. “People make jokes about how much women gossip,” he said. “That’s because they’ve never spent time around the men at an army post.”

  Brock had made a sling for Simcha and was leading him out of the garrison, probably to Nat’s home so the healers could treat him. Delno knew that Brock was leery about treating deep injuries such as the dislocated shoulder because he had trouble using the magic to see deep into the body, but Delno also noticed that Simcha’s lip was still bleeding a little. Apparently Brock had decided that healing normally might help Simcha’s attitude some.

  He and Rita walked to the water trough to wash. Delno had figured that she wasn’t shy about nudity, but even he was surprised when she crossed her hands in front of herself and grabbed the hem of her tunic and began pulling it up over her head at the trough. Then he saw why: she was wearing a tight-fitting halter under the shirt that afforded her a little modesty. Still, Delno, and most of the troopers, couldn’t help but notice that she was a lovely woman.

  Winston joined them at the wash trough. Delno was sure that the man was itching to ask what the whole incident had been about, but to his credit, he kept his questions to himself. Delno did ask Winston if he could point Rita in the right direction to get some supplies for her upcoming journey. Winston assured them both that what she cou
ldn’t buy or have made at the garrison, his quartermaster could find for her at a reasonable price.

  Winston stepped closer to Delno and said, “I don’t want to be rude, especially to a Dragon Rider, but I would prefer that Simcha not practice here again.” He was obviously a bit embarrassed to have to make such a request.

  Delno replied, “Don’t worry, my friend; even if he weren’t recovering from injuries, I don’t think Simcha would show his face around here after being humiliated in front of the men. However, if it will make you feel better, I will mention it to Brock discreetly; he seems to have some control over the man.”

  Winston thanked him, and then took his leave of them to get back to work.

  Pearce, at Brock’s request, had made arrangements for the garrison’s orderlies to take all of the Riders’ gear the day before. The boys had been both delighted and terrified at the prospect of actually removing the saddles from the dragons. The Riders had assured them that the dragons would be compliant, and that they only balked at having someone other than their own rider put the gear on them. None of the dragons had any problems with allowing someone other than her rider remove the saddles, since their riders were quite busy, and letting the orderlies remove the gear would make them more comfortable. The boys were absolutely delighted when, Fahwn, Leera, and Geneva readily talked with them. Janna had remained somewhat aloof, but even she had thanked the boys when they relieved her of her riding gear.

  The saddles were in the leather works, so that was where Delno headed next. Much had happened since the previous afternoon, and he needed to fly out on Geneva and get his mind straight. He found Brandon and the boys there and saw that all the gear had been cleaned and polished. He thanked the boys and handed them each a coin before grabbing his saddle. Then he walked quickly to the city gates to meet Geneva.

  The first thing he noticed was that Geneva and Leera had positioned themselves between Fahwn and Janna. The brown dragon was apparently quite angry with the red. He walked to them, and Janna glared at him, which elicited a snarl from Geneva.