Dragon Wars: Flames Of Pain (Book 3)

Chapter 19 (Jangras POV) A Challenge!

I looked at Lunk for a couple of seconds as well, as I saw that he had his eyes squinted at me. I was a bit confused as to why, as I wondered if perhaps he was already testing me. I looked around to see if anyone had noticed him doing it, but must of them seemed to be lost in their own heads, just thinking of what Socra might have meant, by what she had said earlier.
It was fair enough too, as it was typically my father that was the one that shared a lot of the big news. The problem was though, my father was not here at the camp at the current moment. I shivered, as my thoughts went back on there maybe been something that had happened to him.
I shook my head though, as I knew that my thoughts should not be in that mind set right now. If something were to have happened to him, we would not have known for one, as he had gone off on his own, taking no one with him at all.
I was a bit disappointed in that as well, when he had told us that he was going to meet up with some of the leaders of the other red dragon tribes. If I was supposed to be the next leader of the tribe, than how come he hardly ever acted like I was supposed to be?
He put me through all of these tests, such as the one that he was about to put me through, with Lunk right now, but he never gave me the respect, and the other things that came with being a leader. I let out a bit of a soft sigh to myself, as I knew that right now, was not the right time to be trapped in my head.
I blinked a few times, as I shook all of those thoughts from out of my head, trying not to worry about my father, and what my future had in store for me. I knew that I should not be a greedy dragon, because, like my father had told me once, "A good leader worries about his tribe before he worries about himself."
I knew that he was indeed correct as well, as I knew that I was being a bit of a greedy dragon. I shook my head at the same time too, as I then lifted my head up, to get my focus back on the presence, and all that was going on around me at the current moment in time.
As I looked up, I saw that Lunk was still staring me down, as I had to figure that he perhaps thought that I might be a weak dragon, due to the fact that he had seen me staring down at the ground for quite a bit of some time. I was looking like a bit of a weak dragon, and I knew it too.
Maybe not so much of a weak dragon, as I was being a bit rough on myself for phrasing it like that, as most dragons that would be in my situation, would run from the stress, and all of that. I was not like most dragons though, and I knew it.
I was not simply supposed to be a normal dragon. I was supposed to be a leader, and I was supposed to be the strongest dragon in the tribe, at all times, even when I felt like I was a bit weak. I gulped a little bit, as thankfully Lunk had not noticed that simple gulp.
Lunk then nodded to me, as he then began to look around at the rest of the group that we were currently with, at the moment. He looked each of them down, one by one, without saying a single word. Some perhaps a little bit longer than the rest of them.
I wondered why he might be doing so as well, as perhaps he might be trying to see how their reactions were to it, compared to what mine was. I looked over at the dragons that I had seen him looking at, as I saw that they too had their heads a bit down low to the ground.
I looked away quickly, as I did not want to blame them for it, as I had just been doing the same, not too long before now. I blinked a few times, as I then just turned my head over to Lunk. He was, in fact, the dragon that I needed to have my eyes on, at the current moment.
Even if I was supposed to be the leader of the tribe, he was the leader of this small group that we were in. He was here to teach us how to fight, and I did not know much about that. Socra had told me, "your training to be a leader, is not going to be like a typical deputies training."
I knew why as well too, as we were going through some rough times with the tribe at the moment. We had left our home, and we had practically lost our leader for quite a bit of some time as well. I knew that I was not going to have the normal training that I dragon such as I, would have.
I shook my head though, as I stared to shake off all of those thoughts at the same time too. They had been in my head a lot as of late, and I knew that I could not let it get the best of me. I then turned my head back over to Lunk, as I saw him look away from the last dragon that he had been testing.
He then nodded once again, as he then closed his own eyes for just a couple of seconds, as if he was trying to remember what it was that he was just about to say to the tribe. I was about to do the same as well, but I felt like I should not, as if he saw me with my eyes closed, he might think it would be different for me.
I instead just stared at him for a bit of some time, as I was not sure what to do, or what it was that I should say either. I blinked a couple of times though, as I thought back a bit, on what it was that he had said to the entire group, just a couple of moments before now.
He said that we were going to be divided up in to teams, and I was a bit confused on how exactly I was going to be tested by this as well. We normally did this, on most days, were we did a bit of a simulated battle in between 2 teams.
I knew that he was going to test me, and he was not going to make it obvious to all of the others at the same time too. I knew that Lunk was a very smart dragon, and perhaps, in a normal tribe, he might have been a deputy himself.
We were not a normal tribe though, as I knew that my father had told me that we were the alpha tribe amongst all of the other red dragon tribes. It had confused me a bit when he had said that though, as I felt like, if that were true, than how come Plyma had not gone in to fight my father in the attack on our tribe?
Was he afraid? I was not sure, as I thought a bit more in to it. I knew that I needed to use my brain a bit more, as I knew that I was perhaps the smartest dragon in the tribe, though I did not act like it, all that often. I did my best not to close my eyes, as I thought to myself for a bit of some time.
I knew that I could not close my eyes, as it would look a bit bad to Lunk. I felt like now was not the right time to think on all of that either, but, when would be the right time? I knew that I would forget about it, as soon as it was to leave my thoughts.
I figured that I had a few seconds, so I might as well think. I looked up at the sky, as I figured that it would be a bit of a better message to Lunk, rather than to be looking down at the ground, or having my eyes closed. I then began to get into some deep thoughts on why Plyma had not been there.
I thought, that maybe he had thought that he would not have been able to kill my father, or maybe he had been too afraid to go after him, himself, which seemed to make a bit of sense, besides the fact that my father had told me that Plyma was not afraid of any dragon.
I had asked my father if Plyma was afraid more than once, and my father always came with that same response each and every time. It must have been the fact that he had not thought that he would have been able to find, and kill my father on time.
It began to make a bit more sense too, as I knew that he was a very smart dragon. He also knew the story about the dragon of destiny too, and he knew that my father was not actually the dragon that he needed to kill. It was me that he was looking for.
I shivered at the thought of having to get in to a fight with Plyma. I had been told of how strong, and how powerful of a dragon he was, from several older dragons, not just my father. I blinked a few times too, as I then remembered that I had never met Plyma.
I knew that my brother had though, as he was the oldest of my siblings, nearly 50 years old when he had died. They knew that he was the son of Himla, and they did not know about me... If that was the case, than they perhaps thought that they might have already won this war.
They did not know, that they would have another things coming for them. I squinted my eyes up in the sky for a couple of moments, as I then closed my mind of those thoughts, as I then heard the voice of Lunk, finally begin to speak up to the rest of the group, after what had felt like a long time of silence.
I knew that it had not been that long at all though, as I knew that my brain worked a lot faster than most normal dragons brains did. I more than likely had been thinking twice as fast as Lunk, even though I knew that he was a smart dragon, I knew the potential that I had, if I put it to good use.
I shook my head though, as I then looked back down at Lunk. As I looked over at him, I saw that he thankfully did not seem to have his eyes on me any longer, as I felt like my idea of looking up at the sky, had been a fairly good idea, that I should use a lot more often.
I blinked a couple of times though, as I knew that my mind should not be in those thoughts right now, as I knew that what I was about to hear, was going to be very serious. I let out a bit of a soft sigh to myself again, as I listened to what it was that he had to say to all of us, mainly being me.
"As I said... I will split you in to teams, Kota being the leader of one, and Jangra being the leader of another." He said to us. I looked at him for a few moments, as I then nodded. I was still a bit confused as to how this was going to be a test to me.
Were we going to have to attack from a much harder angle than the other team? I blinked a couple of times, as I then shook my head again. I knew that he let us choose the teams, typically Kota getting the first pick, as we usually got the same teams every time.
I still did not understand what this was going to be all about, as I then squinted my eyes at Lunk. He did not seem to be paying me any attention though, or he just did not seem to care at all. I stared at him for a bit more time, until I then decided that I was going to speak up to him.
"So... What is the catch?" I asked him, for some reason exposing a bit of our little secret that we had. I saw that he did not look too happy with it at all either, as I saw him staring at me with a not so happy look on his face. I realized that I had made a bit of a mistake at the same time too.
I saw him begin to look around at a lot of the group, to make sure that no one had caught, or perhaps understand the different meaning to what it was that I had just now said. I knew that I had messed up, so I did the same thing as he had done.
I saw a bit of confused looks on the faces of a couple of dragons, but none of them seemed to be all that suspicious of what it was that we had been talking about in the first place. I let out a bit of sigh of relief, not too loud at all, as I knew that would only make things seem even more suspicious.
I knew turned my head back over to Lunk, after a bit more time had passed, and I knew that we were luckily safe, and no one had found out the different meaning on what it was that I had said just now. I saw that Lunk was still looking around for a bit more time, just to make sure.
No one seemed to care though, as he just nodded to himself, and then he turned his head back over to me. He no longer had the angry look on his face either, luckily, that he had just now had a few moments ago. He just blinked a few times, as he continued to look at me.
I held my ground with him, as we both stared at one another, still seeming to not get the attention of the rest of the group, as I then saw a bit of a strange smile begin to pop up on his face. I tilted my head, a bit confused as to what it was, as he then began to speak to mainly me, but also to the rest of the group as well.
"Well... Now that you said something, I am going to be the one to choose the teams this time." He said to me, keeping that same smile on his face. I was still a bit lost, as to what it was that he had meant, and what it was that he found so funny about all of this.
I felt like I had perhaps given him the idea of that, just by what I had just said. Or maybe he had already thought of the idea, and he was just trying to hide the fact that it was going to be suspicious to the other dragons otherwise. I knew that either way, he was a smart dragon for what he was doing.
I did gulp a bit, as I felt like this was not going to be a very good ending for me, and I felt like he was going to make this very hard on me. I heard a few groans from a lot of the dragons around us, as I knew that he had done a good job of getting rid of any suspicious activity.
I did my best not to groan myself, as I held my ground with Lunk, and I stared right back at him for a bit longer, and I then nodded to him, with a bit of a smile on my own face too. I was not sure as to why that was so, as I felt a bit scared on what it was that he was about to do, and what he had in mind.
I saw that it got in to Lunks had though, which was very rare for him too. I knew that now was the perfect time for me to speak, as I looked at all of the others with us once again, just to make sure that they did not understand what was going on. I then looked back over at Lunk, and I then began to speak back to him.
"I am ready for any challenge..." I said to him, quite a bit loudly, that way I knew that it resonated over through all of the dragons that were with me. I saw from the corner of my eye as well, that there was a bit of a smile on the face of Kota, as it seemed that he managed to catch on, at least a little bit, as to what was going on.
I wanted to smile back at him too, but I knew that my eyes needed to be on Lunk at the current moment. I turned my head, and my eyes, straight towards Lunk, and I ignored all of the other dragons that were around us at the current moment.
After the initial shocked look on the face of Lunk, had managed to wear off, he then shook his head a little bit, and then he stared right back at me. I saw the strange, creepy little smile pop back on to his face, once again, as he began to speak. I listened to what he had to say as well, with both of my ears open.
"Oh... Believe me... This will be Jangra, this will be a challenge..."