The Necromancer's Dragon

Chapter 15: Bitter Work

Her week of punishment went by quickly as Selena distracted herself with all the ways she could exact revenge against Ashur for his maltreatment. Silver had offered multiple times to get General Araneus involved, or even Her Imperial Majesty, but Selena declined. "What kind of an example would I make if I didn't accept my punishment?"

Silver continued arguing. "You shouldn't have been punished in the first place."

Her kitchen duties involved serving and cleaning up after all three meals, and she wasn't excused from showing up for drills and regular training. Silver had slipped her a stamina potion that restored her depleted energy before meeting Ashur on the courtyard for laps. "This will make you feel like you've had a full night's sleep; I will not watch him try and kill you. Knowing him, he won't release you until it's time to begin drills."

Selena was thankful, for Silver was right; she wouldn't have survived the first night, as Ashur made her run in an endless circle around the courtyard's perimeter, not releasing her until it was thirty minutes before roll call. Luckily Silver's miracle elixir gave her the energy of ten dragons, and she breezed through her punishment like a champion.

However, what nearly broke her was when Neith delivered a message straight from Her Imperial Majesty when her taxing week finally ended: she was not to see Rahim or the others until she completed basic training. Silver was furious, as he was also forbidden to interfere and interact with her. "But I'm one of your trainers. This mandate is an outrage! I will march myself straight in there and tell her like I told Ashur—" His voice was immediately cut off after storming out of his office and slamming the door shut through his rampage, leaving Selena confused and melancholy.

Unfortunately, combining her growing nightmares involving the mysterious metal door and the Empress' mandate, Selena began lagging in physical fitness. Despite completing Ashur's punishing week, her growing depression was enough to dampen and stall her basic training progress and determination. She excelled in the arcane arts, surpassing even the master mages within Dragonspire, but she always finished last with laps and the obstacle courses—not even Silver's stamina potion could cure her dreary aura.

Erik's obligation as her bunker buddy meant he had to run back and help her push forward. Though she had won the respect of the others, Erik's attitude grew hostile over time; she knew he was irritated, and he certainly wanted to run her face into the dirt. Yet, she still picked herself up to keep running, with Erik following and grumbling. "Maybe you should just quit. Magic alone isn't enough."

Ashur took every opportunity to humiliate and punish her when running laps around the courtyard; as she tripped in the mud fresh from the morning shower, he walked over and spat on the ground. "Even I couldn't whip you into shape. You are weak and a disgrace to the Imperial Air Force. If you have any respect for us, then you will pack up and go home by morning." Yet, she persisted, still unable to see Thor and Her Imperial Majesty refusing to accept Silver's pleas to lift her orders.

By the end of Selena's first month, her unit trained with bows and firearms for the first time, each recruit with their setup: apples laid on a wooden plank balanced over a rock fulcrum. The two captains demonstrated the exercises by stomping their planks, the fruits flying into the air, and before the apples fell, they shot arrows through their cores, pinning them to a target sitting dead center of the field. The young men lined up to their stations and did the same, but as expected, many arrows didn't touch the apples, let alone their targets set to two hundred yards away.

Silver jeered and mocked his partner. "Perhaps another teaching method?" Ashur growled at him and yelled at those closest to face his wrath.

Selena was not doing well, either. She continued losing control over her arrow, and the apples fell before she even fired. Ashur made every attempt to humiliate her at failing publicly, but Silver had enough; eventually, his orders superseded Ashur's, and he finally got General Araneus involved regarding Selena's abuse and mistreatment. Captain Bel was forced to take a leave of absence until further notice before the Pyre struck noon that very same day.