Arriana's Return

Arriana's Return - Chapter 37

Chapter 37

"I don't know. I guess we should start training to find out. I've never done anything like that before. Well, besides the guy who attacked me at the school but I didn't really hurt him, just kicked him in the face."

"Yes, I remember seeing that," Barwick mused.

"I've been meaning to ask you about that, by the way." Arianna narrowed her eyes at him.

"What do you want to ask?"

"Who was that guy? Why were you there? And why did you stalk me instead of just talking to me?"

"That was Johnathan. He is in the Northern Mountains with his family. He will be returning to the village for training next week. Don't go too hard on him. He did it for Coresova," Barwick confessed.

Sighing heavily Arianna did what she always did when the stress got to be too much, she closed her eyes and began to breathe deeply.

"I'll go easy on the guy. I can understand now why he did what he had to do. Let's get this shit done! Let's take down Lucas and his army. Let's take back Coresova and make this home again," Arianna said.

She jumped onto Arion's back and enjoyed the ride back to the village. The cool breeze cooled her flushed face. She knew that there was a lot of work to be done. She was hoping it would still be a while before the big battle. She still had no idea how to use a sword or how to tap into her powers. Nobody wasted much time once they returned to the village. The motions almost seemed robotic. Aroman showed Deacon and Arianna different techniques for holding their swords defensively while Barwick taught Zoe how to handle her bow. Arianna slowly raised the sword up above her head practicing how to block a vertical hit when she heard something flying overhead. There was a large, scaly creature flying over the village. It resembled a dragon but Arianna knew that was a big stretch.

"What the hell is that?" Arianna asked, confused.

"Huh? Oh, looks like one of the dragon clans is here," Barwick said, glancing to the sky. "We better move to give him room to land."

"Wait a minute, are you telling me that is a dragon? Are you serious?" Arianna asked, confused.

"You have met centaurs, Minotaur's, unicorns, Pegasus, sphinxes and gryphon's and dragons surprise you?" Barwick looked at her baffled.

Arianna laughed. "Well, I guess it shouldn't huh?"

They all moved to the edge of the village to give the dragon enough room to land. Whenever he did Arianna was able to get a good look at him. He was a greenish brown color and covered in scales. His neck was long and curved into an S; he had large thin wings that had three claws on each side. His face was long and ended in a mouth of sharp teeth. Arianna wasn't sure if he breathed fire or not but she was curious to know.

Would it be bad for me to ask if he does? I better not now, I'll ask him later.

"Barwick, old' boy why weren't you at the training area?" the large dragon asked.

"Well, Drake we were but Lucas' assassins found it. We almost lost our dear queen today," Barwick told Drake.

"Oh? Is she okay?" he asked.

"She is. Arianna, please come here. I would like you to meet an old, dear friend of mine and of your fathers," Barwick said, sounding a bit eager.

"Your young majesty it is both a privilege and honor to make your acquaintance. I do hope that my family and I will be of use to you," he replied, bowing his mighty head to her.

"I think the honor is all mine. I've never met a dragon before." Arianna replied with her mouth open in awe.

"Never met a dragon before eh?" Drake asked with a booming laugh.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to stare at you," Arianna said, embarrassed.

"No need to apologize. I imagine that little town you lived in on the other side did not have many dragons," he replied.

"No, it didn't have a lot of things apparently," Arianna told him, laughing.

"What are you working on?" Drake asked them all.

"Arianna and Deacon are working on defensive moves with their swords, which they should be doing now instead of standing around," Barwick said, giving them a stern look, "and Zoe is learning how to hold and aim her bow."

"So they're starting from the very beginning. Do you think they will be ready in time?" Drake asked Barwick.

"I do," he replied.

Hearing that made Arianna smile, she knew they had a long road ahead of them. So much work still needed to be done. Barwick and Drake stood in the middle of their new training grounds and watched as they all practiced. Arianna thought she was getting a hang of the defensive moves and was gearing to get started in hand to hand melee training. In the distance she heard a bell ringing. They knew what that meant; lunch was ready. Arianna had not even realized it but she was famished. She sheathed her sword and walked back listening to the men talking.