Dragon Child

Battle in the Colosiem

When Rhzvanzin heard someone knocking at the door, he blinked himself awake. When he remembered that he had found his friends, and their new friend, and brought them here he panicked. He knew that the duke and the knight wanted to meet other dragons, but if he revealed them here, they would know he had left his room last night and would get in trouble.

“Wake up!” Rhzvanzin hissed quietly.

Mira snapped awake instantly while Drazealite and Zahanort where slower to wake. They hardly had time to open their eyes before Rhzvanzin clamped their mouths shut and hauled them off the bed and crammed them under it. Rhzvanzin grabbed Mira and crammed her under there too.

“What’s going-?” Drazealite managed to start before Mira was crammed under the bed with him and Rhzvanzin clamped his hand back over his mouth.

“There is someone here to see me,” Rhzvanzin whispered to his friends, “If she sees you we will all likely get into huge trouble. Later two more dragons like Mira will come and clean things, after they leave it is safe for you to move around the room but not leave it. Make sure they don’t even see a single scale off of you.”

The three nodded and fell silent as Rhzvanzin released their mouths. Rhzvanzin straightened up, walked calmly to the door, and opened it. Outside the door, Sara was patiently waiting for him.

“Yes?” Rhzvanzin asked without opening the door all the way.

“The duke has called us for an audience and wishes you to attend,” Sara said before trying to look into the room and asking, “What was all that noise earlier?”

“Fell out of bed,” Rhzvanzin said quickly, “Then need to get shirt on, bumped few things.”
Sara nodded showing she had accepted his answer before motioning for him to follow her. Rhzvanzin obliged and locked the door behind him praying that his friends would do as they where told for once in their lives.

Sara led him to a part of the castle he had never been in before and took him to a wall covered with weapons and other shiny things. Sara grabbed a sword and a large shield before backing away from the wall.

“The duke wishes to test our combat abilities,” Sara said donning a helmet, “You are allowed to take whatever you need from the wall so help yourself.”

“I need none of this,” Rhzvanzin said calmly, “I fight as I am.”

“You might change your mind when you have to fight one of the duke’s champions. They are said to be some of the best fighters in the country," Sara said before off handidly mentioning, "By the way, they are all human.”

“What!?!” Rhzvanzin roared.

Sara jumped back in surprise and fear, rage boiled in Rhzvanzin’s eyes and she could see bloodlust there as well. She still had no idea what had raised him but it was obvious that it hated humans with a passion. She had thought about telling Rhzvanzin that they were all human, including himself. Now she thought that she would never tell him that as long as she was alive.

“Now Rhzvanzin,” Sara said snapping him out of his rage, “you will watch me and others fight against humans until they call out your name. When they call your name you are to enter the arena you will face your foe and you will each bow to each other. When you hear a horn being blown you will begin the fight, do you understand?”

“Yes,” Rhzvanzin said calmly his eyes still flashing with hatred, “Lead away.”

Sara sighed, led Rhzvanzin down a series of tunnels, and stopped in line leading to a large barred gate. From beyond the gate, Rhzvanzin heard the sounds of shouting, cheering, and metal ringing. Rhzvanzin smelled blood, fear, and excitement wafting in from the arena and wondered who the nervous one was. Rhzvanzin heard someone shout in agony and hundreds of voices roar in approval.

All was quiet for a moment before Rhzvanzin heard someone shouting something and a gate open. The person continued to shout and the gates in front of Rhzvanzin let one man through. After a short bout of silence, the noise and smells rang up again. This trend continued for nearly an hour before it was just Sara and Rhzvanzin.

Gates across from their own rose up and a large Leatherhide emerged holding a large curved sword in one hand and a small wooden shield in the other. The gates in from of them open and Sara walked out to face to large human. The human said something to Sara just before she and the human bowed to each other. Rhzvanzin heard the crowd of on lookers suddenly cheer and saw the human swing its sword.

Sara gracefully leaped out of the way of the weapon and dived back in to slash at the human’s knees. The human blocked her blade with his shield but received a blow to the chin from Sara’s shield. The human staggered and swung his sword low and Sara jumped to avoid it. Sara was knocked to the ground when the human punched her in the face. Sara lay on the ground motionless and Rhzvanzin grabbed the barred gate and was about to rip it off when Sara started to get back up. The human rushed forward and swung his sword at Sara. Sara swiftly rolled out of the way, grabbed the human’s arm, pulled herself upright, and held the edge of her sword against the human’s throat.

The crowd cheered and Sara exited the arena by a ladder that had been lowered into the arena. The human shook itself and walked out through another gate. As the ladder was withdrawn from the arena, Rhzvanzin heard and man start to shout again.

“This will be the final battle for the day,” a man shouted, “this fight will be between Sir Killsalot.”

The gate across from Rhzvanzin opened and the largest human Rhzvanzin had ever seen walked out of the gate carrying a massive shield and an even larger sword. The human seemed to be a hybrid of Leatherhide and Shellized. It had a shiny metal carapace on its wrist, chest, shins, and head with leather covering the rest of its body.

“He will be fighting the wild child Rhzvanzin!” the man shouted.

The gates in front of Rhzvanzin opened and Rhzvanzin advanced on all fours. Some laughter rose from the crowd and the human chuckled.

The human chuckled in a hollow, steely voice and said, “So can’t walk upright, wears no armor, and bears no weapon. If you last thirty seconds I’ll surrender, after all, your friend lasted that long and he did all three of the things you aren’t doing.”

Rhzvanzin growled and anger tinted his eyes when he heard that this human had killed one of the men from the camp. The human bowed, as did Rhzvanzin. Rhzvanzin heard a weird sound echo across the arena and turned to see what it was, he saw a man with a horn.

Rhzvanzin turned to look at the human and saw that the human was swinging its sword at him. Rhzvanzin avoided the attack by leaping to the side and landing far out of the human’s reach. Rhzvanzin felt his furry building; this human had killed one of his friends from the camp and just tried to kill Rhzvanzin while he was not looking.

“You will die for what you have done Human!” Rhzvanzin hissed before shouting his war cry.

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Sara sat on the edge of the arena and watched Rhzvanzin advance towards the gladiator and heard the gladiator say something to him. Rhzvanzin growled at the words but bowed nonetheless. The starting horn sounded and Rhzvanzin turned to see what had made the noise, the gladiator took the chance to swing his massive sword at him. Sara thought Rhzvanzin would die but he saw the sword coming and leapt out of the way landing nearly thirty feet away.

Sara saw that Rhzvanzin was very angry at the time, his skin had taken a reddish tint, and that his eyes shined with rage. Rhzvanzin hissed something at the gladiator that ended with him using the word human as a curse.

The Rhzvanzin took a deep breath and roared.

Sara had never heard such a roar in her life; it struck to her heart and filled it with terror. People in the stands drew back away from the arena terrified by the monstrous roar. The roar was heard at the edge of the city and made the arena itself tremble as if the roar terrified it as well. Even the battle-hardened gladiator took a step back from Rhzvanzin.

Rhzvanzin finished his roar and charged the gladiator at speeds so fast that his image blurred as he moved and threw up a large cloud of dust behind him. The gladiator swung his sword at the approaching blur and the blur dodged left and circled around before the gladiator could even look behind him. Rhzvanzin struck the gladiator with enough force to send him sprawling through the dirt like a leaf caught in the wind.

Rhzvanzin slowed a bit when he was sailing through the air from leaping off the gladiators back. He landed on the wall, launched himself to the ground, and charged the gladiator again. The gladiator sunk behind his shield with his sword at the ready. Rhzvanzin leapt over the man and ripped his sword hand off at the wrist before he started to circle around to attack again. The gladiator tried to bash Rhzvanzin with his shield but Rhzvanzin knocked the shield aside and punched the gladiator, hard.

The gladiator was sent flying backwards from the punch with the wind knocked out of him. Rhzvanzin tore past him and waited for the knight to pass over him. When the knight was directly above him, Rhzvanzin delivered a viscous two-fisted uppercut that knocked the gladiator skyward. Rhzvanzin jumped up after the gladiator and met him the air with and angry hiss.

The gladiator tried to knock Rhzvanzin away, but before he could really move, Rhzvanzin had slammed his fist into the gladiator and sent him spinning to the ground with a resounding crash.

Rhzvanzin fell slowly to the ground allowing the gladiator enough time to stand back up and clutch his broken ribs. As soon as Rhzvanzin hit the ground, he was charging the gladiator again. The gladiator tried to protect himself with his arms but Rhzvanzin carried him into a wall. Rhzvanzin pinned the dying gladiator to the wall with his foot and struck the gladiator with his fist. Each punch Rhzvanzin threw caused large cracks to appear in the wall behind the dead gladiator. Rhzvanzin’s last punch shattered the gladiator’s head like an egg, scattering blood and brains across the arena.

Rhzvanzin let the dead body slump to the ground and let loose another mighty roar. After his roar, Rhzvanzin stood over the body and his skin started to return to its normal color but hatred still burned in his eyes. The entire crowd was silent until the duke stood and started clapping at which point more people began to clap and soon the entire crowd was cheering Rhzvanzin for his victory.

Rhzvanzin raised his arms above his head, climbed out of the arena, and walked over to where Sara stood. He sat down on the bench and breathed heavily for almost a minute before he straightened up and smiled at Sara.

Sara smiled back but was shivering inside she was begining to doubt Rhzvanzin's humanity herself.

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Mira walked slowly around the room examining how she looked in the clothes that where in the room’s closet. The women’s clothes did not seem to be for her so she was trying on some of the men’s clothes. She had just found a set that fit her rather well and she was trimming off the frills and unnecessary parts of the shirt. She jumped when she heard a loud crash behind her and a deep rumbling.

She saw that Zahanort had gotten tangled up in one of the shirts she had discarded earlier. Zahanort had apparently tried to put on the shirt and had gotten his head through but his claws had gotten caught in the fabric. Zahanort had then panicked and tried to pull his head out and his little horns had gotten caught in the fabric as well. Now he was hopelessly tangled in the torn shirt and Drazealite was laughing at him on the bed.

Mira sighed, grabbed hold of the shirt, and tried to pull it off the panicked dragon. Zahanort refused to quit thrashing and thwarted Mira’s efforts to free him as his claws and horns continued to get even more tangled in the shirt.

“Be quiet,” Mira hissed in dragon’s tongue.

Zahanort froze in his struggles and Drazealite looked at Mira surprised. While both of the dragons where motionless, Mira managed to free Zahanort from the shirt. Zahanort promptly shook himself and walked away from the shirt as if he had not really needed Mira’s help. Mira chuckled softly and tossed the ruined shirt over to a corner.

Mira heard the door rattle and both of the dragons quickly and silently slid under the bed. Mira knew that it was not Rhzvanzin and joined the dragons under the bed. She remained silent knowing that if she was discovered, even without the dragons, Mira would be put to death for breaking into the duke’s fortress.

Mira heard the door open and saw two pairs of feet walk into the room and heard a shriek. Mira thought that one of the dragons had been seen until she saw that she could hardly see them and she knew where to look.

“That damned wild child,” a woman’s voice shouted, “He’s made a huge mess in here and destroyed several of his clothes and tossed the rest all over the floor.”

“Not only that,” another woman’s voice said angrily, “It looks like he also tore another entry into his bed. Lord only knows what he did to the bed itself. Oh lord!”

Mira flinched thinking that maybe the maids had found either a scale from one of the dragons or something of hers. Mira closed her eyes and silently prayed that she and the dragons would not be discovered. Not because she cared for the dragons, she told herself, but because Rhzvanzin would probably kill her if they where discovered.

“The brat destroyed the bed!” the woman finally gasped, “He tore a massive hole in the middle of the bed and in looks like he might have even chewed on the stuffing. What the duke sees in that brute I have no idea.”

“Probably another fighter for his fool quest to find and slay dragons,” the other woman said, “Even though we all know that they don’t really exist.”

“What about that rumor that a huge dragon has been digging through graveyards in several villages and towns?” the first maid asked

“Just a fool’s tale.” the other maid said dismissivly.

“Well whatever reason the duke has for keeping this barbarian," the first maid said tossing down her cleaning cloth, "I’m not cleaning up after him anymore.”

“I’ll agree to that.” the second said as she turned to the door.

Mira watched from under the bed as she watched the two maids walk out of the room and lock the door behind them. Mira waited a few minutes to make sure that they had really left before she got out from under the bed.

Once she was sure they where gone, she crawled out from under the bed the dragons took it as a sign that it was all clear and bolted out from under the bed to play with the clothing that still lay on the floor.

Mira knew that they where making a huge racket, but knew that almost none of it would be heard by anyone. Even if someone did hear, Mira now knew that the people of the castle considered Rhzvanzin a barbarian and would think the noise was him. Mira was about to fall asleep on the bed for a nap when a tremendous roar startled Mire so much that she fell off the side of the bed when she jumped.

Mira turned to look at the dragons and saw that they seemed just as surprised by the roar as Mira. The dragons quickly ran over to the window and looked anxiously down into a large arena off to one side of the castle. Mira looked down into it and saw that Rhzvanzin seemed to be about to fight a large and well-armed gladiator in the arena.

“What was that?” Mira asked scanning the skies for angry dragons.

“Rhzvanzin,” Drazealite said simply.

“I was his rzrn cry,” Zahanort added, “Only heard him do that once before and that was to grznnvrn us.”

Mira looked at Rhzvanzin thinking that there was no way a human could shout like that.

Then she saw Rhzvanzin start attacking the gladiator at incredible speeds and started to reevaluate her last opinion. She saw him tear into the gladiator and toss him around as if he weighed nothing at all. When Rhzvanzin killed the gladiator Mira nearly vomited and she heard the dragons make happy chirping sounds. Rhzvanzin let loose another ear-splitting roar and stood over the gladiator’s dead body like an animal waiting for its foe to rise so it could knock it down again.

Finally, Rhzvanzin straightened up and lifted himself out of the arena to sit next to the woman whom had taken him out of the room this morning. The woman seemed to be nervous but Mira could not be sure from this distance.

Drazealite snorted approvingly before he said, “He certainly grnnvrn since last time.”
“I‘ll say,” Zahanort chuckled, “he actually won this time.”

Both of the dragons seemed to chuckle at this comment though Mira saw nothing funny about it. Mira noticed that Zahanort was looking at her with, at least what she thought, was a concerned look. Mira straightened up and tried to hide her fear as she always did and walked calmly over to the bed where she finally fainted from fright.

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Zahanort sniffed Mira as she lay on the bed.

She had been watching Rhzvanzin fight the human with them and had paled greatly while watching him. Zahanort had seen Rhzvanzin pale before but never as much as Mira had. Mira had then staggered over to the bed where she promptly collapsed and fell into a deep sleep.

Zahanort nudged her and felt her heart rate. Her heart seemed rather weak and slow but who could tell with these things Rhzvanzin claimed where some kind of dragon. She also seemed to be breathing at a steady regular rate so Zahanort figured that she was ok.

“What are you doing?” Drazealite asked.

“I’m making sure she’s ok,” Zahanort said, “She changed colors and fell on the bed.”

“So?" Drazealite asked raising an eyeridge, "Why are you fussing over her like that?”

“She’s not a human!” Zahanort said with more venom than he intended, “Rhzvanzin says that she’s another dragon like him and I believe him!”

“Fine, fine,” Drazealite said calmly, “I was just curious. Don't need to go and bite my head off over it.”

Zahanort snorted and turned to see Mira was resting peacefully before Drazealite baped in the back of the head and jumped back from Zahanort’s tail swipe. Zahanort leapt on his friend and they rolled around the room in play for hours. They never even noticed that Mira had woken up and was now watching them carefully as if studying for any weaknesses they might have.