A Dragon's Rider (Unedited)

Chapter 4

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My long blonde, hair and amber eyes are shown and everyone stills. After as few minutes of nothing, one boy raises his hand and asks what everyone wants to know.

"Is that a girl?"

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Hunter nods his head. "This, is Zircon. She was chosen at the village of Stone Heart." Everyone starts whispering and even the riders behind me are shocked. Hunter clears his throat and this time, everyone is silent. "Zircon is a dragon rider. Everyone is to treat her with respect. If I hear that someone has been mean to her or is making her feel unwelcome, they will answer to me. She was not expecting to come here and we sure weren't expecting it either. Since she is the only girl, she will room by herself and no one is allowed to go into her room without her, or the headmaster's specific permission. Alright," he changes the subject quickly. "Tonight, there is a welcome banquet where you will get your room assignments and roommates. The dragon riders will be split up between rooms and you may get an older student to room with. Tomorrow morning, mages, report to your classrooms. You will find a map of the campus on your bed. Dragon riders, tomorrow is the egg picking where an egg will either chose you or you will go home. Report to the banquet hall. Ok. Follow the rider you flew in with to the banquet hall."

I find Vlad near the front of the pack and walk behind him with Garett and Henry. Vlad points out some rooms here and there.

"That is the hatchery and over there is the training field. Oh! And my personal favorite, the flight course." The other dragon riders are giving similar lectures to their students and I study them as we walk. Most are tall and willowy and have a graceful aura around them. Some has soft facial expressions while others look bored. Vlad stops in front of two massive oak doors that I assume lead to the banquet hall. His hands go out as he pushes them wide open. My ears hear hundreds of voices talking over each other as the older student crane their necks to get a good look at us. I notice that there is no real seating chart because everyone is scattered around, sitting with people who are all different kinds of mages. I can easily tell who the popular kids are. They are laughing within themselves and paying hardly any attention to the people around them. During the walk over, I tucked my hair back into the hood, praying that Hunter would not embarrass me again. Sadly, I was mistaken when Hunter told everyone to line up on yet another stage. We would touch the stone again to show everyone what magic we had. Then, one group would claim us. That meant, he explained, that when we touched the stone, we would then get chosen as the newest member of one group. I sighed. This would be a long evening.

I was about to walk to the middle of the group when Vlad stopped me and told me to go to the back of the line. I was confused but did as I was told. The first people were claimed rather quickly and then the first dragon rider came. He touched the stone and was immediately claimed by a not so nice looking group of people. All the dragon riders were claimed by one of three groups, the ones who had claimed the first guy, a group of artistic looking guys, or ones who looked to cheerful for my taste. The jocks I had first noticed never claimed anyone thought they looked more interested now. All too soon, it was my turn and I walked up and touched the stone. The same thing happened as before, golden lights flowed around me and the air picks up. Then, of course, Hunter comes up behind me again, only this time, I'm ready for him and I duck. I spin around and punch him in the gut. He grunts as he falls down. 'Take that!' I think to myself. He pops right back up and tries again. This time, I pull out two of the knifes I had hidden in my tunic. Hunter backs up slowly before taking out a sword. I grin. This just got more interesting. I was totally absorbed in the fight and so I didn't remember the audience. He attacked, and it became a deadly dance, a whirlwind of flashing metal. I was ultimately the faster of us and I found the weak link in his fighting technique. I rushed him as his sword would not be a useful close-combat weapon. I had my knife up to his neck before he could blink.

"Surender?" I hissed through my teeth, my chest moving up and down as I breathed deeply. He merely smirked at me before my hood was removed from my head and my hair came spilling out around my shoulders. I jumped up and spun. Vlad stood there, smiling while I crouched low, fighting the instinct to attack him. I turned to look at the audience and saw their shocked faces. I shrugged, better get this over with. I took off my jacket and the audience gasped as they saw my hunter's tunic. I rolled my eyes. 'Get over it.' I touched the stone again and the audience visibly tensed. The lights, I noticed, were actually pinpoints of light with bright colored tails, swirling around each other. For a while no one spoke and Hunter just waited.

Then a deep voice said, "We'll take her."

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Hi!!! It's finally the weekend!!! YAY! No more school for two days! Anyway, vote and Comment if you liked it!

Thanks,

101silver_wolf

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