Dragon's Hoard

Serial hanging man

Kongpob yawned in boredom. Training fights between those little buttwads were really boring. He yawned again. And then Little Thing got called.

Oh, good grief.

He had hoped he would at least avoid it that day. It was painful to see him duel. 'Duel.' That kid didn't have a drop of wickedness in his veins. And, further, it shouldn't be forgotten that he was a wimp.

How could he be that bad? Was it really his fault? Maybe he really did need a familiar.

Anyway, whatever the problem was, in less than two seconds, Little Thing had already been defeated. As expected. But if there was one thing that he could say about Tiny, it was that he never gave up. And indeed, even though his expression was painful and his back was sore, he very quickly stood up.

"Okay guys, that's enough."

"I'm fine, I can keep going."

"Arthit, this is not a real duel. This is just an exercise to practice casting defensive spells. Put down your curses bags and thank each other for the exercise."

Kongpob rolled his eyes. So many formalities. He'd rather hung that bully up somewhere than said thanks.

"Yes, Miss."

Arthit acknowledged momentary defeat with a bow of his head and sat down beside his friends.

"You've been good."

"He was?" Loudmouth asked. And well, Kongpob thought much the same as him, but there was no need to be so blunt. "Ouch!" A jab of Wad's human's elbow in his ribs convinced him to rephrase his thought. "I mean, you've improved."

"My barrier gave way on the second attack."

"... Which is still better than the first...? Ouch!" This time he had been Loudmouth's other friend, the always serious one, to hit him. "All of you stop hitting me!"

"Shut up, will you?"

"I'm trying to cheer him up!"

"This is not how you cheer someone up!"

"You okay, Kong?" Little Thing asked him in a low voice, completely ignoring his noisy friends.

He just huffed. He had long given up hoping for Little Thing to change friends. They were a lost cause, all of them. Annoyed by the noise they made, he sought refuge in Tiny's pocket.

Little Thing had his mother sew a central pocket on all of his shirt, so that Kongpob could always stay warm and, in case, escape the disturbing, annoying friends. Which happened more often than he liked to admit.

      
     
      

      
Arthit blinked in confusion, trying to figure out what had just happened. One moment he was following his friends to their next class and the next, John was making fun of him and, even worse, of Kong. Now, he could accept he made fun of him, but not of Kong.

"Stop it, or I..."

"You what?" He asked mockingly. "Will you send your useless familiar against me?" He provoked him.

"Kong is not useless!" He hissed angrily as wave of viciously cold wind hit John, making him fall backwards.

They both fell silent, staring at each other. The astonishment he felt was mirrored in John's face. Arthit was the first one to move.

"Oh, I'm sorry John. Did I hurt you?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" He shouted.

"I didn't mean to-"