The Elemental Chain Saga Book Two: Dragons Ascending

Chapter Seventeen: Flying and Fighting

A red streak blurred below Cooper and, with a seconds hesitation, he let go of the branch, landing roughly on Altor's back with a grunt of pain. Cooper looked down at Altor's head as he tightly grasped the scaly grooves of the dragon's neck "You get a laugh from that? I didn't." There was a whine in Cooper's voice.

Atlor's wings beat and he slowly descended. As they neared the ground, Cooper swung off the dragon's back, as he had practiced many a time. He dropped to the near ground softly.

Altor landed across from Cooper "Wasn't that fun?" Cooper swore under his breath. Altor cocked his head to the side and his eyes gleamed mischievously "You pee yourself again?" Cooper was silent for a second "No," he said guilty. Altor sniffed the air and Cooper felt a blush rise in his cheeks. Cooper shifted in his boots slightly, Altor grinned "Yes you did. I knew it."

"Shut up, Altor. Don't we have better things to do?" Cooper tried not to sound embarrassed, he didn't think it worked. Altor definitely ignored Cooper's attempt to change the subject "Do you need to go change? If you do, this can wait."

"Altor, I'm fine, please," if there was one thing that got on Cooper's nerves, it was being treated like he was a little kid. He always tried to press the fact that he was twelve now and had fought in battle just like anyone else. Some people didn't like the fact that he was there, but he was. He was skilled for his age and so he was allowed to fight. Altor, however, seemed to cherish bringing up the fact that Cooper was still a little kid, when, in fact, Altor was a lot younger than he.

Altor finally let it go "Fine then. Have you been practicing the Stances." Cooper nodded. He had been practicing the Dragon Stances ever since Altor took him under his wing, quite literally.

It had been quite a surprise when he had been wandering through the hillside and Altor had landed before him. Cooper had stood there as Altor explained him needing a rider to defend Alerdreamia as he was destined, explaining how Cooper had a power about him that made him a perfect rider for him.

Cooper drew Cometfell smoothly from the sheathe on his belt. He was still unused to the weight of a weapon in his hand. Altor nodded his large head "Good, you have the sword, now in order, Wind, Earth, Fire, Water." Cooper nodded in response. He began without a word.

Cooper spun on one foot, holding the blade out in front of him and gaining speed. Launching off his foot, he twisted in the air, still spinning, so that the blade slashed down three times before he landed in a low crouch, his boots crunching down on dead leaves, breaking them into small pieces.

Altor roared softly in appreciation "You caught on to that one quite quickly, and you move fast, too. I move faster, though," he bragged jokingly. Cooper gave a grin as he prepared for the Earth Dragon Stance.

He stabbed forward quickly, then dropped into a roll, slashing clumsily above him as he did. As he rose, he blunderingly cut behind him as he got up. Cooper looked at Altor and the way his eyes arched he knew he had done the move like a dunce. "Umm, to put this nicely, that stunk." Cooper dropped his gaze from Altor's, looking anywhere but his eyes.

He had practiced the move over and over but he couldn't seem to get the last two sword moves right. He was still getting accustomed to fighting with a weapon and he hadn't been in battle since the injury, even though by now the fighting raged almost daily.

He silently cursed himself for not practicing harder, later, he would be sure to practice the move so many times, it would be drilled into his subconscious.

"Don't beat yourself up over it. You're learning, when I was young, I had trouble breathing fire, now look at me." Cooper looked up as Altor rose on his hind legs and roared, spewing a magnificent jet of golden flames into the air. As they went out, he dropped his forefeet back to the ground with a thud and Cooper swore he heard the earth give a little. Leaves and pine needles tumbled down from the nearby trees, filtering the light in patches and rays. Altor growled with self approval "See, we can all learn stuff, even idiots like you." Cooper's freckled face broke into a wide smile "Thanks, Altor." "Now," Altor said, looking at Cooper more seriously "the next Stance."

Cooper toke a deep breath "Ok, I'm ready." Fire, Cooper thought, Max...

Cooper went into a series of high and low slashes. He began to sweat as he built up speed and intensity. Finally, he dropped low and slid his foot as if to trip his opponent, and he imagined as they would fall-

And he stabbed up, right where their heart would be.

Cooper gasped softly, regaining his breath. Altor gave Cooper an appreciative look "Amazing job. Just remember that that is the most taxing Dragon Stance and to only use it in times of great, great, need." Cooper could only nod in response. After a minute or so, Cooper stood and began the last Stance. Low tide, Cooper thought as he began. He slashed low and then spun stabbing medium then spinning and slashing high. High tide was next. Cooper feigned a stab then spun on his right heel slashing high.

Cooper knew he had preformed it perfectly, it had come easy to him as soon as he was taught it. He watched as Altor walked towards him; he smiled inwardly, he had done pretty well.

"Stop acting so full of yourself," he said, butting his head into Cooper "honestly, you're so full of yourself." Cooper laughed and threw his arms around Atlor's neck "I thought I told you to shut up?" Altor grunted "I ignored you."
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DragonDog1: Meet Atlor the dragon. He will take up as Cooper's mystical teacher, and trust me, you won't want to miss where this leads them both. Please comment and vote because your opinion matters to me greatly. Thank you!