'First time?'
Draco lifted his head and opened eyes, though he immediately regretted it. Whilst the nausea and other, more unpleasant symptoms had finally subsided, his photophobia was still very much present.
'It seems so,' Cedric answered himself. The dragon heard the commander sit down beside him. 'When did your abilities first appear?'
'In May…' The dragon didn't want to risk the stomach cramps returning, so he stuck to short answers.
'You're doing quite well.' In his current state, Draco couldn't read anything from Retfield's tone. 'That doesn't change the fact that you did something idiotic.' The commander's voice caused an echo to reverberate inside the dragon's skull time and again, making him feel slightly dizzy. 'You've exhausted the source… and in a very short space of time. What on earth were you thinking?' It seemed as though Cedric was on the verge of raising his voice, but he was still in control of himself. 'Exhaustion can kill you, you idiot. Be glad the medallion didn't activate, or you'd have eliminated yourself.' He paused for a moment. 'Ugh… let this be the first and last time, do you understand?' Draco nodded, taking it to heart. 'Since you might not have known this yet, I won't say any more, but next time you won't get away with it.'
'Thanks. . .' The dragon opened his eyes, trying for a moment to keep his gaze fixed on Cedric.
'Stay close to Noah and follow his orders.' Retfield stood up and shook his head sadly. 'And no casting spells. Physically, you should recover in a few minutes, but your source will need time. More than usual, in fact.' The boy turned and walked away.
Draco groaned softly, longing for complete silence in which the echo reverberating inside his skull would fall still and give him a moment's respite. The commotion around him, however, seemed to be intensifying rather than dying down, so rest was out of the question. His only consolation was the assurance Cedric had offered as he left.
'You've really made a mess of things.' Zane nearly crashed into the wall, after which he slumped to the ground beside the dragon. He gave the reptile a somewhat appraising look and whistled through his teeth. 'You look as if something's chewed you up and spat you out. Well, several times, anyway.' He gave a short laugh. 'Our dear commander isn't shouting at you, so it looks like this is your first bout of exhaustion.'
'Yeah, the first… Although I thought I'd reached my limit a few times during training…' Draco managed to string a longer sentence together, and the lack of any negative physical reaction was like a light at the end of the tunnel.
'Oh! During training.' The elf pointed this out as if it were the answer to the endless stream of questions swirling round the dragon's head. 'Probably slowly and under supervision, using energy-sapping but safe spells. And that's your current problem.'
'Why don't you go and be spiteful somewhere else, Zane?' The second voice belonged to Noah. 'You can see it must have been his first time, can't you?' Parthir crouched down opposite the dragon. 'Shall I remind you what happened to you when it occurred to you?' he snapped menacingly at the elf.
'You don't need to say anything; I remember it perfectly well. Unfortunately.' Zane barely muttered the last word.
'Back to the problem, Draco.' Noah turned his attention to the reptile. 'It's nothing more than Excessive Mana Overload and Source Exhaustion Syndrome, commonly known as a mana hangover.' As Cedric said, you'll feel fine in a moment, but if I were you, I'd wait until tomorrow before using any magic. Otherwise, you risk fainting, at the very least.
'Or death, at worst, hehe…' The elf cackled.
'I suppose I'll have to remind you of a few things after all.' The parthir threatened him.
'All right, all right, I'm off.' Zane was back on his feet in no time. 'In my opinion, it was a bit foolish, but you proved yourself.' He patted the dragon on the shoulder. 'Cedric didn't kick you out of the team, so you could even say it ended well.' Without giving him time to react, he walked away.
'Contrary to appearances, he didn't mean any harm.' Noah sighed heavily, as if lamenting his fate. 'From what those two said, you need to remember that what you did was bloody dangerous, and the danger doesn't just go away just because you're feeling better.' He shook his head sadly. 'No magic until tomorrow. Your left hand's in for a visit to the Tower of Water. Oh… I really do hope I won't have to patch you up again today.'
'We're both in the same boat on that last point,' Draco grumbled, testing whether the movement would provoke a physical reaction. 'What happened in the meantime? I mean, the last thing I clearly remember is you controlling the tree, and after that… everything gets a bit hazy.' The change of subject may not have been seamless and might have seemed forced, but for the dragon, the only thing that mattered was occupying his mind with something other than his current condition.
'No one thought our opponents would just sit in the tower amidst the rubble endlessly.' Parthir watched as the reptile tried to get to his feet. 'The noise must have lured them out. They fired a flare and raised the alarm. Afterwards, it seems they tried to retreat and head towards the lake, but as luck would have it, they walked straight into one of Liam's traps.' He spat with distaste to one side. 'This time, I have to admit, he's outdone himself. I've no idea how much or what he packed in there, but the explosion left a crater about a metre deep.'
'An unpleasant surprise.'
'That's an understatement,' Parthir snorted. 'Of the five who were passing through there, three were taken out. The remaining two didn't put up a fight… I mean, they weren't able to. Cedric interrogated them first, then activated their medallions.'
'So half of them down?'
'Not yet, but we're close…'
'But we've lost some of our own too?' the dragon asked, standing up somewhat unsteadily and bracing himself against the wall.
'Well, we're six short.' Noah tried to weave a bit of optimism into his voice. 'But the odds are still in our favour.'
'Statistics aren't likely to help us.' The dragon regained his balance and noted with satisfaction that he could stop squinting. He still felt a bit sluggish, but was quickly recovering, at least physically. He had no intention of testing his magical abilities. Trusting others in this matter didn't seem like such a bad idea.
'True, but maybe Cedric and the others will come up with something.' Parthir walked alongside the reptile, glancing at him every few paces. 'Whatever happens, stick close to me until the end of the exercises. You'll be my guard and my assistant at the same time.' Noah's lips twitched into a faint smile.
*****************************************************************************************************
'Once again, what are you supposed to do?'
'Don't stray from you and try to protect you in the event of a fight,' Draco repeated for the hundredth time. They were sitting on the lakeshore, in thick bushes, observing the defensive positions in the tower being prepared for a siege. And that was essentially where everything was heading.
A reconnaissance mission carried out after mobilising everyone who'd remained in the village hadn't yielded particularly optimistic results. It appeared that an additional squad had been deployed from a final, thus far unknown, position. Fifteen defenders and nineteen attackers. As things stood, the advantage lay with the defending cadets.
However, Cedric refused to give up and was determined to fight to the end. Despite the unfavourable balance of forces, he decided to make matters even worse. Adam and the rest of the reconnaissance team were sent to locate the final position held by Group Ten. It seemed that Retfield saw a chance of victory in capturing two of the three designated positions. However, playing for the advantage could prove deceptive, as they had no idea what additional tasks had been assigned to the defenders and how many of them the defenders had managed to complete. If luck was on their side, they would have interrupted their opponents before they had a chance to complete their missions.
Although it was difficult to spot any completed work in the village, the situation around the tower was quite different. The structure itself stood on an artificial mound, built just a few metres from the shoreline. The entire fortification consisted of a thick stone wall only slightly taller than an adult man and a four-storey tower devoid of windows. Where the gate should have been, there was a gaping hole blocked by a hastily erected barricade. Every now and then, a head would appear at the top of the tower, surveying the surroundings.
Even from a distance, the engineering work carried out around the defensive position, or at least the beginnings of it, was clearly visible. Stakes tied together with string marked out new fortifications or an area where a camp could be set up. Passages had also been marked out and indicated by coloured pieces of fabric tied to the string. It wasn't hard to see that someone had really put their heart into their work.
'Do you think Adam will find the other five and that they'll be able to cope with them?'
'Maybe… It's hard to say.' Noah didn't even try very hard to lower his voice. They were so far away that a normal conversation wouldn't reveal their presence. 'A lot depends on where they are. If it's something similar…' He pointed at the tower ahead of them. '…then they don't stand a chance, but if it looks like the village we took over, I wouldn't say it's impossible.'
'Cedric probably thinks the same.' Draco leaned out slightly from where he was sitting and tried to spot someone from their team. Retfield, Zane and Sheth were approaching the enemy positions quite close to the shore, though even knowing where he should expect to see them, the dragon was unable to make them out.
'It's just that he's trying to do too much at once.' Parthir huffed, slightly irritated, and turned away, leaning his back against a tree.
'You mean…?'
'We should be circling the positions and waiting for the scouts to return, but he's charging towards the tower for no apparent reason.'
'Maybe he wants to impress Sethi Gar'quette?'
'He's chosen the worst possible way to do it.'
'You didn't argue with Cedric when he was explaining the plan.'
'I tried to talk him out of it earlier, in private.' The boy wiped his forehead wearily. 'He can be so stubborn…'
'Perhaps the risk will pay off, though.' The dragon scanned the shore once more, then turned his attention to the fortifications. 'For such a small outpost with a large garrison, there's not much going on there.'
'That worries me too, but there's a chance they're sitting on pins and needles, waiting for us to make our move.'
'There are plenty of chances. . .'
'You don't need to tell me.' Parthir shook his head. 'As soon as something starts happening, we'll move forward. I can't do anything in open terrain, but perhaps I can provide some cover for the rear.'
Draco looked at the other cadet, wondering just how energy-intensive nature spells were, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. On the one hand, Noah had no trouble at all coaxing smaller bushes to form a path for them or shield them from prying eyes. On the other hand, getting an oak tree to catch a flare was something parthir considered extremely difficult and not particularly safe. Suffice it to say, the lad had no intention of repeating such a feat in the near future. From the dragon's perspective, the two uses of magic did not differ greatly from one another, and he would even have been prepared to bet that it should be more problematic to constantly create a passage through the thicket or to provide cover.
He was just about to ask about this when a rustling sound behind him caught his attention. The dragon turned and froze upon seeing Aiden with his sword raised. The boy was standing within arm's reach and seemed just as surprised as Draco.
The dragon reacted instinctively. With one hand, he grabbed Noah by the arm and pulled him behind himself, whilst with the other he tried to draw his weapon. The attacker was quicker, however, and the blade struck before Gler'thys had left its sheath. The dragon managed to leap aside, plunging into the thick undergrowth. The supple twigs seized him almost immediately and flung him towards Aiden.
The sword slid out smoothly and Draco was able to respond with a slash. The clang of steel echoed amongst the tall trees. It didn't matter, though. In the coastal thicket, sounds faded quickly, shrouding everything in an aura of mystery.
On the attacker's face, surprise gave way to determination. It seemed Aiden had no intention whatsoever of giving ground. The boy leapt forward as if to ram the reptile, but in truth he wasn't aiming for Draco. At the last moment, the tip of the sword veered gently to the side, and the full force of the thrust was redirected onto the parthir.
Draco turned slightly and deftly parried the attack. For the reptile, the brief exchange was all the more surprising because, due to the undergrowth, he was unable to attack as he usually did. He wasn't used to having his movement restricted. The fact that in Dagos he often had to slip away through alleys and narrow streets bore no relation to a situation where he was fighting an opponent on equal terms. What worked in his favour, however, was that he trained daily with the Ed'heer soldiers. Whilst Aiden could not be faulted for his enthusiasm and fairly good technique, he was a long way from being a professional, or even a cadet at the Dragon Academy.
The dragon slashed wildly, seeking to push his opponent back rather than land a hit. His opponent took a step back, and Draco followed up with another strike. A series of wide, somewhat slow attacks forced Aiden to retreat time and again towards the open space the dragon had spotted. A slash, a change of direction, a thrust followed by a lunge, and they found themselves outside the thicket, on a small patch of open ground beneath a spreading alder tree.
The dragon gave a wry smile and attacked, capitalising on his superior strength and agility. His opponent reacted with astonishing composure, and a barrage of heavy blows was met time and again with counter-attacks. Draco simply picked up the pace and began to aim more carefully. Successive blows came ever closer to Aiden, whose face began to show signs of unease. His opponent's gaze kept darting off to the side, as if searching for something. The dragon had no intention of giving him any opportunity to do anything and decided to take a risk.
In a flash, he closed the distance to Aiden, forcing him into close quarters. They found themselves literally face to face, and Draco had the chance to gauge the strength of his opponent's grip. The dragon twisted the blade, freeing his shoulder, and then violently rotated his torso, adding momentum to an elbow strike. The blow struck Aiden at the temple, but his helmet must have absorbed most of the force. The boy staggered, simultaneously loosening his grip on the sword hilt. The dragon had been waiting for just that and yanked the weapon, knocking the sword from his opponent's hand.
Using his momentum, Draco struck downwards, adding a twist to the blow in the opposite direction to before. Gler'thys slowed abruptly before reaching its target and was pushed back. The unexpected reaction threw the dragon off balance, but a half-step backwards was enough to restore his stability.
'See, you're doing quite well,' he said, grabbing Aiden's immobilised arm before the boy could topple over. 'I'll help you…' He smiled warmly and looked over his friend's shoulder to check whether he could safely lay him on his back.
Right next to the alder tree trunk stood two defenders whom Draco hadn't noticed before. Both had their hands outstretched in front of them, both aiming at the dragon, and flames were gathering around their fingers.
'Bloody hell…' was all Draco managed to say.