The Silver Revenge

Chapter 13: Human-like Dragons

The next couple of days went by slowly for the four dragons. It was spent resting their tied bodies and exploring the haven. It was an interesting place. Everything was made from ice, from homes to nests and even the strange currency they used. Each dragon walked around with a small leather bag tired around their neck, which was full of circular ice chips called IC's. They were a little confusing to Silver. The larger one was the more it was worth, and a certain amount of one size equalled another. A human way of life in her mind.

She sighed, walking down one of the many roads that circled the haven. She had heard there was some sought of training arena in the area and had wanted to check it out. Zepos was asleep and Retrix had wanted to explore the area by himself. Merene had disappeared the night before, saying she had needed to take care of something and still hadn't returned. It was a little worrying but Silver was quite confident in the mind dragon's abilities.

As she walked she attracted the view of many of the other dragons. Sometimes they would stare openly and others would quickly glance her way before hurrying on. She didn't know if they were nervous, scared or just interested. A few of them had even approached her to talk, but no one had really known what to say.

Silver stopped at a crossroad and turned left to see the building she had been looking for. It was dome shaped, like most things in Eldawin's Syndicate, but larger. There were a couple of dragons around the outside in small clearings, sparring against each other and the sounds of dragon elements being used on the inside. It made her smile. She hadn't had a good fight in a while, and was itching to do something while waiting around for Zoralth's summons again.

Taking a breath she walked up to the wide-open entrance at the front of the dome. Two dragons were at the entrance, laying next to each other and talking in murmured voices. As Silver approached one of them, an ice drake, hauled himself to his feet and walked forward to intercept her.

"It's one large IC to enter," he said in a droning and board tone.

Silver hesitated, "Aaah, I don't have any."

The ice dragon looked at her oddly, as if he was unused to an answer, "Then... no entry."

She snorted in annoyance, "Please. I mean, I just came here and wanted a look around. I heard about this place and wanted to see what it was like. Surely you can make at least on exception."

"Sorry dragoness, there are no exceptions," he said, sounding a little annoyed.

"Is there anything I can do then? Like, I don't know, help around for the day, fix some stuff?" she tried.

A glint ran through the drake's eye and a seductive grin formed on his face, "Well... there is one thing."

With one look at the dragon Silver knew what he was thinking, "Besides that."

"Hmm, nothing else that I can think of," he replied, sitting down on his haunches with his grin still intact.

She growled, "Well, what about if I kick your ass in a fight? Will I be allowed inside then?"

The ice dragon tilted his head, considering the proposal, "Okay. If you beat me in a fight I will let you inside."

"Good," Silver said.

"But... if I defeat you... I get you. Deal?" he grinned again.

The dragoness hesitated for a moment, doing a quick study of the ice dragon. He was a little older then her, maybe thirteen or fourteen, and had a rather strong build. There was no enormous radiation of power from his body, and his attitude was the overconfident type. It meant he probably hadn't lost in a while, but he also probably hadn't fought anyone with any real training for a while either. But ice was her official weakness, slowing her down considerably. However that was only because she had been fighting an incredibly powerful ice dragon. This was a little different, and she was stronger now anyway. The risk was minimal.