Dragon Warrior Chapt. 1

     This is chapter 1 of book 2.  Remember, the first two books run in a congruent timeline, so either could be read first.  Most people seem to like reading Dragon Sight first, but Dragon Warrior is faster paced, if you're into that.

Chapter 1

                The great bear stood on his rear legs, rising to his full imposing size.  My heart skipped a beat.  He was going to attack now.  I crouched in a defensive position; one sword in front of me and one behind.  I knew the charge was coming.  There was no turning back now.  I had to face the monster.  I had to beat him back.  Time seemed to slow as I anticipated the imminent attack.  The cool spring air rustled my hair.  The chill of winter had not yet left the foothills of the great mountains of the North.  Some of the trees were still tipped with snow.  The mountains just above us were heavy laden with it.  The cool air was a welcomed treat to cool me from the heated battle.

                In a blur, the bear moved.  Claws were flying.  His great maw was snapping shut with razor sharp teeth trying to get a taste of my flesh.  I was ready.  My blades danced quicker than the bear could move.  Sharp steal took bites out of his flesh.  He roared in anger each time my blades made contact.  The injuries did not stop the beast; they only managed to infuriate him.

                Claws were coming faster now.  This was no ordinary bear.  He moved with purpose and speed.  He lunged for me again, maw opened.  I brought my sword up horizontally, and shoved it into the bear’s mouth.  The blade cut the cheeks to the bone of the jaw and stuck firmly, but the momentum of the animal would not allow it to stop.  We collided.  I went sprawling feet over head backwards, the massive beast rolling over the top of me.  For a brief moment I worried that I would be crushed, but the momentum carried the animal’s massive weight beyond my body.

                I quickly rolled back to my feet, freeing a knife from my weapons belt in the process.  I was none too soon, as the bear had already turned to press the attack again.  My sword still lay imbedded in the bear’s mouth.  He rose up on his hind legs again.  This time, he did not even pause.  His full weight came crashing down on me.  A claw swept dangerously close to my body.  In as quick of a movement as I could muster, I spun, offering my sword in the place of the bear’s intended target.  With the full weight of his body behind the blow, the bear could not stop its assault.  The paw was severed at the wrist. 

                I wasted no time pressing the attack.  The bear hobbled back a step in shock and pain.  I took the ground he had lost in a stride, swinging my knife down in the process.  I added my weight to the blow, and the blade sunk up to the hilt in the bear’s shoulder.  Without flinching, the bear reared its head, knocking me out of the way.  We were on top of one of the foothills, and I rolled all the way down it from the blow.

                The great bear wasted no time.  It was charging down the hill after me before I had even finished tumbling down, myself.  I used the momentum to place some distance between us, and I rolled back to my feet, new weapons in my hands.  The bear swiped at the sword in its mouth with a massive clawed paw.  The weapon went sailing through the air.  The wound it left healed over before the sword hit the ground.  When the bear reached me, it had already grown back its severed paw.  The knife still jutted out from its shoulder, but the wound didn’t seem to bother the great beast.

                I was sweaty, and tired.  The battle had been going on like this for over an hour.  I was down to my last two blades.  Countless blows and cuts to the animal, and aside from the knife jutting out of its shoulder, the animal looked completely unharmed.  I didn’t know what I would do when my last two blades were gone.  I had been fighting since I was old enough to walk, but I was always better with a blade than hand-to-hand combat.  The bear didn’t care if I had a weapon, or not.  He continued to press the attack.

                I decided to make my last two weapons count.  I dug in and waited for the impact.  Both claws were coming this time; the bear had lunged at me and was soaring through the air.  It was a mistake.  I used his momentum to carry me backwards.  My foot came up, and caught the animal under the jaw, closing its massive maw.  I continued to flip backwards, and with all the strength I possessed, pushed the bear upward with my foot.  The kick served its purpose, and I was able to get enough space between the beast and I to swing my swords.  In a mad frenzy I stabbed.  As fast as my arms would move, I stabbed, and stabbed, and stabbed.  The bear was soaring through the air above me; I was flipping backwards beneath it, but my blades were doing their lethal dance in and out of the soft underside of the beast. 

I must have poked a dozen holes all the way down the belly of the bear before we hit the ground.  The animal was unmoved by the attack.  Its rear legs came down, trying to stomp me in the process.  I was quicker.  I was on my belly on the ground underneath him, but I rolled to the side just in time to miss the heavy blow.  I came to my feet, a bit slower this time.  I could feel the fatigue settling in.  I wondered if the animal would ever tire.

The great bear turned to face me again.  He paused for only a moment.  I could see the intelligence in his eyes.  Before I could catch my breath, he pressed the attack again.  My blades came up to meet him.  Instead of taking him head on, I stepped to the side, and pivoted.  I swung my sword backwards with all of my might as the bear charged past me.  The blade found its mark, and was buried to the hilt in the bear’s side.  With the massive beast’s forward momentum, I didn’t have enough time to retrieve the weapon before he charged past.

The sword handle, and the knife handle sticking out of the animal gave it an even more menacing look.  It was a reminder that he was immortal; that I could not win this battle.  I was tired.  I wanted to stop, but I knew he would not allow it. 

I took my last blade in both hands, and waited for the attack.  The beast charged again, this time he was watching for a side step.  He was waiting for me to make a mistake.  He was waiting for me to repeat a move so that he could teach me a lesson.  I had learned not to make those mistakes in my training.  As soon as a warrior becomes predictable, he will die.  I knew the laws of war.  I was not about to break them.

As the bear charged in, I flipped forward.  I ran my blade up the back of the bear as it passed under me.  The fur, and skin separated as the blade sliced its way down the animal.  Before I had finished my strike, the beginning of the wound was mending.  The long gash closed up like a zipper before I completed my flip and landed on the ground.

I turned to face my foe once more.  The bear reared up again.  I pressed the attack.  My blade moved like lightning.  I cut across, up, down, jabbed, thrashed, and twisted.  Long cuts were all over the bear’s tender underbelly.  The wounds healed instantly.  I cut faster, deeper.  The wounds healed faster.  My arms and blade were a blur of furious movement. 

The bear started swinging its massive claws.  I had to stop my frivolous attack, and use my sword as a shield from the sharp claws.  The bear stayed on his haunches and fought with its front paws, almost like a man.  Several times I severed the massive mitts, but they always grew back as fast as I could cut them.  Every now-and-then I would thrust the sword into the bear’s chest, or stomach.  The blows, be they offensive or defensive, didn’t faze the beast.

My arms were getting heavy.  The swings were becoming increasingly more labored.  I was slowing.  The bear was not.  With a mighty blow, it knocked the sword from my hand.  With his other paw, he knocked me from my feet.  I flew a good five paces before I struck the ground.

My head was spinning, but I knew I had to get up.  On unsure legs I made it back to my feet.  The bear was already there.  It swung a massive claw at me.  I reached up, and grabbed the arm just in time.  With all my strength, I wretched the arm sideways, and up behind the bear’s back.  The bone popped.  I swung my legs over the beast, and continued pulling the arm until I was able to roll him. 

The bears other paw came around with the momentum of the roll, and caught me square in the chest.  I went sprawling again.  I landed on my back a good eight paces away.  The blow drove the air from my lungs.  I tried to sit up, but my spinning head wouldn’t let me.  I was only just able to prop myself up on my elbows to get a look at the beast bearing down on me.

A bright, yellow, glowing light left the pouch attached to my weapons belt.  I tried to call out, but there was still no air in my lungs.  The little glowing creature flew furiously at the beast.  They met head on.  One would expect the little glowing creature to lose in the collision, but that was not the case.  This was my oldest, and dearest, friend Columbine Iceweb; a fairy who found me as a baby after my parents abandoned me.  When she collided with the bear, he went sprawling.  He flew a good twenty paces up in the air and one hundred paces backwards; flipping haphazardly as he went, with arms and legs sprawling out in every direction.

“No more,” the little fairy voice shouted as the bear took flight.

I groaned inside.  I was going to be in trouble.  I sat up, and waited for her to return to me.

“Colly,” I said, admonishingly as she landed in my upturned palm.  “You do realize he’s going to kill me now, don’t you?”

Columbine’s wings wilted, the way a dogs ears do when you yell at them.  “He’s too hard on you,” she explained.  “I can’t stand it when mean old Marus hits you like that.”

I couldn’t be mad at her.  She loved me.  She only understood love.  I feigned a scold.  “Well I hit him, don’t I,” I asked.

She held her hands behind her back, looked down, and shrugged.  “I guess you do.”  She sat quietly under my scolding gaze for a moment longer.  Then her wings came up a bit with a thought, and she looked up into my eyes, “But it doesn’t hurt him like it hurts you.  I don’t like to see him hurt you.  He’s a mean old bear,” she professed.

I couldn’t hold the scold any longer, and smiled helplessly.  “Awww, you know I can’t stay mad at you, little Colly.  I love my little Colly wolly.”

With that, her wings perked up, and she glowed a little brighter.  She lifted up off my hand, flew to my face.  She kissed me on the tip of my nose.  As she did so, her yellowish glow turned a deep red.  “I love you, Apoc,” she said in her tiny fairy voice.

Just then, Marus came tromping through the bushes.  The bear was grunting angrily as he walked.  He stood up on his hind legs, and continued walking forward.  With each step, his body was transforming.  He shrunk a few feet, then his fur got thinner, his snout sunk in, the eyes changed.  Within a few paces, he was a man. 

Knight Marus was my second oldest and dearest, friend.  He had learned about my birth through a prophecy, and was sent to train me from Mother Gaia, herself.  He was the Shaman of my people.  He had been so for the last eight thousand years.  His calling as a councilman at Gaia’s table had prolonged his life, and given him powers beyond my imagination.  He had taught me how to use some of those powers, but mostly, he taught me about my power. 

He stopped just in front of me.  As I stood up, he removed the sword from his side.  The wound closed immediately once the blade was removed.  Then he reached up, and pulled the blade from his shoulder.  There was not a scratch on him to betray the damage I had done him in the training session.  His eyes, however, were dancing with anger.

“You must keep that little pest in your room when we train,” Marus said.  “We train for hours, and she undoes all our work.  How can you learn if others fight for you?”

I never knew how to answer Marus’ questions.  Anyone else would ask such a thing, and it would be a rhetorical question; Marus never asked rhetorical questions.  He always expected an answer.  I racked my brain trying to think of an answer that would appease him.  Nothing came to mind.

Colly beat me to the punch.  She flew right up to Marus’ face, and said, “You be nice! You mean old bear.”

“Why does she always do this,” Marus asked with exaggerated patience.  “She knows I do not understand a word that she says.”

Colly had the tiniest little voice.  No one could understand her, but me.  I often wondered why that was.  I could hear her from a quarter mile away, but others couldn’t hear her even if she were screaming right in their ears.

“She says, I’ve trained enough,” I said.  “She says it’s time for us to go to supper.”

Colly flashed blue, and turned to fly back to me.  “You lie head,” she exclaimed.  “I can’t believe you lied.  You tell the mean old bear what I said.  Don’t lie.  You lie head.”

I had to laugh.  Marus just raised an eyebrow.  “Ummm. She’s mad because I lied,” I explained.  “She didn’t say it was supper time.  That was my idea.”  Marus didn’t think it was funny, so I quickly wiped the smile off my face.  “What she really said was that you’re a mean old bear.”

Colly looked pleased.  She turned around, and stuck her little tongue out at Marus.  He was too far away to see her tiny features, but she didn’t seem to care.  She flew back to me, landed on my shoulder, and started snuggling with my cheek.

“You must leave the insect at home next time, Apoc,” Marus admonished.  The scowl never left his dark features.  “This is not a game.  We train you for Gaia.  You are to be the Chosen One.  You cannot live life as if it were a game.”

“Should I live like you,” I said out of anger.  “You don’t live, Knight Marus.  Life isn’t as serious as you make it out to be.  It’s fun, and exciting.  Sure, there are tough times, but if all you focus on is the bad, you’ll never be happy.” 

The old shaman didn’t look moved.  “You are young,” he said.  “And stupid.” 

Marus was a lot of things, but he was never belittling.  He must have been more upset than I had thought.

“We are facing grave times, Apoc,” he continued.  “If you continue to live in this fancy free life style of yours, you will get yourself killed.  Then the world will fall to darkness.  We all depend on you.  I do not believe that you truly understand the burden that you bear.  You cannot live a normal life.  I am sorry for this, but it is what it is.  You are right; life should be a wonder.  It is the greatest gift the Creator gave us, but for some, like you and I, we must sacrifice that gift so that others may enjoy theirs.  You will learn to find joy in that sacrifice, too.”

I had heard the speech a million times.  It was losing its effect.  Colly was still cuddling with my cheek.  She let her magic flow into me.  It was love.  All she knew was love.  She shared that love openly.  She wanted me to feel it.  It was hard to keep the scolded look on my face with her wonderful magic flowing through me.  Knight Marus’ speech was having even less effect on me because of it.

I looked up, in the best humbled face I could pull.  “I’m sorry, Marus.  You’re right.  I’ll try to take my training more seriously from now on.  Don’t be mad at Colly.  She doesn’t understand.  She just wants me to be happy.”

The big man just sighed.  “I am not mad at Colly, son.  I am glad that she is so protective of you.  She has saved your life many times.  I would not ban her from our training sessions if she could stay out of the fight.”  He shot Columbine a glare.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw her wings wilt.  “But we must be able to complete our training sessions.   There will be times when you are knocked down in battle.  There will be times when you are knocked senseless.  You need to practice responding, even under those circumstances.  I love you, son.  I do not want this calling to take your life.”

“I know, Marus,” I said.  I no longer had to force the humbled look.  “Sometimes I worry I won’t be enough.  I worry I won’t be able to live up to the prophecy.”

Marus walked over to me, and placed a meaty hand on my shoulder.  “I know, son.  I know.  That is why we train so hard.  I cannot help you in the last battle.  The prophecy says that you will fight it on your own.  The only way I can be there for you is by what we do here, in our training sessions.  It is my prayer that these sessions will make you ready for that fateful moment.”

The big man embraced me like a father.  I never knew my father, but with Marus around I never missed him.  I had been raised by him, and Columbine.  I couldn’t imagine a boy having more loving parents.

“Now,” he said as we separated.  “I think it really is time for supper.”

With that, we hiked our way down through the foothills, away from the great mountains, to the village.