Inferno Legacy: Loyalty of the Dragon (Book Two)

Chapter 27

The next week passed quickly after that first night of celebration. After the headache Inferno had in the morning, he refused to touch a single drop of alcohol, so Cody at least had decent company for the next six nights. In that time he also discovered who Prowess was for himself, to his great annoyance.

The Dreamkeeper was truly massive, for a start. He was just as tall as Mournful made him, and her description of him otherwise was perfect. He was not as heavily-built as Cody had imagined, but lean and handsome, though from the look of it he was still far stronger than any human Cody knew. He had two great yellow-gold eyes, and his long ruby-red hair cascaded past his shoulders in long waves of scarlet. It hurt Cody to see him with Mournful, and how content she was with him, but Inferno managed to keep him entertained during the celebrating.

But before long the week-long period of celebration was over, and so Cody and his friends resumed their training. Every day he followed his instructors to wherever they led him, whether it be battle training or Dreamkeeper history, dragon skills or magic. He began to grow stronger with each lesson both physically and mentally, and soon he and his friends began to impress their mentors. And in this way, two weeks passed all but unnoticed.

Cody stood stock-still with his sword held firmly in his right hand. Destiny stood before him with a Dreamkeeper blade in her own hand. It was sudden when she pointed out that she had a human form, and Fearless immediately took it upon himself to perfect her human side. In the matter of mere days her draconic wit and cunning allowed her to match Cody's ability, but he wasn't without his own intellect.

Destiny swung her sword at him heavily from the side, leaving her other side exposed. Cody struck quickly, but she was there in a second and their blades collided with a sharp ringing sound that reverberated through Cody's skull for some time. The only weakness Cody had seen was that she often used her strength primarily and so left parts of her body exposed, but her quick reaction time made up for it. Then Cody attacked her in a flurry of blows, always making sure that he left no part of himself exposed. She was quick, but soon enough Cody's persistence and superior sure footing allowed him to just scrape her side, drawing the tiniest trickle of blood and forcing her down onto her back.

As she laid there, green eyes blinking in surprise, she smiled. She nodded to her defeat and Cody helped her up just before she said, "I'm glad you were able to beat me. You are definitely stronger than before."

Cody returned her smile and answered politely, "I suppose it's true, but you were always stronger, in any case."

The sound of clapping brought Cody's attention to the crowd, consisting of his friends and all of their mentors with smiling faces, grins much larger than that of either Cody's or Destiny's. Thoughtful strode forward from the crowd and bowed to them, an odd gesture that took Cody aback. He motioned for Cody's friends to move to Cody's side and they did without question, inferno settling beside his rider with a sigh of contentment.

Thoughtful took a deep breath before addressing the group of students, "You have all shown spectacular improvement over the past few weeks, and we have decided to promote you to the next rank. You may now go most anywhere you like, and most days you won't have any lessons from us. This last rank of training will help you to learn by observing our culture and customs for yourselves. But, you must answer to the king and queen directly, and do as they command. And once you reach the end of your training altogether, you must be ready to swear fealty to them or leave."

Cody nodded with a broad smile on his face. The uncertainty of whether he belonged was brought back to his attention, but he quickly decided that the end of their training was still a long ways off. As it was, everyone was excited about their new freedoms and eager to see more of the Dreamkeepers.