Fangs: Book 1 Frost

Chapter 10

He felt the sand pool around his talons every time he took a step forward. The roar of an excited audience crashed into his ears, and he already knew who they were routing for. And he already knew he would lose.

The muscular earth dragon landed in front of him, scattering sand with his lashing tail. His eyes glared at him as he flung his wings open.

Herring took a breath. The least he could do was make this entertaining. The water dragon stepped forwards, sizing up his opponent. He would not let his markings turn green, instead, he forced them into a neutral and veiling slate grey.

Tigereye snarled and stepped forward to match Herring. They advanced at one another, slowly circling. Herring flexed his claws, trying to find any weak spots in the brown armor of Tigereye. The brown dragon was instead watching his opponent for any sign of attack.

The crowd began to roar with impatience, the inmates calling for action and blood. Pebbles were thrown down at them, bouncing off of their scales.

Tigereye roared at them in fury, and Herring took that moment to strike.
He leaped onto the larger dragon's back, clawing and biting into the thick scales. Blood was flung in droplets around the arena.

The crowd of prisoners exploded in raucous cheering.

Herring gripped into the larger dragon as he thrashed around, digging his broad talons into the sand. Herring had begun to think that he could actually win. That was until Tigereye ran headlong into the wall of the pit.

Herring crashed into the wall above the earth dragon's snout. His hind legs  just barely escaped Tigereye's snapping jaws.

The water dragon kicked down onto the dark brown dragon's snout, propelling himself over Tigereye's back as he roared and bit at his tail.

Condor was watching from above, smiling eerily. Apollo fidgetted next to him, wringing his tail in his paws. He watched the writhing dragons below with nervous eyes.

"Tigereye's a strong fighter." Condor chuckled.

"But Herring is smart...and fast." Apollo looked at the red champion. "Tigereye would crush him if he got a hold of him, but Herring would be a very hard dragon to get a hold of."

Condor laughed, and Apollo flinched. "What a pair I've picked!" He pointed at the gladiators. Herring was dodging every swipe Tigereye made. As the earth dragon charged after him, blood ran from a few small cuts dealt by Herring's fast claws.

Apollo only nodded. His tail flicked back and forth, anxiously tapping his claws on the stone.

"Ha." Condor sighed. "But Herring will make a mistake. The calculations always fail eventually." He watched the water dragon with eager eyes. He then smiled again. "They're getting tired. Herring is exhausted of his own game."

Apollo watched as Herring barely evaded the thick talons of Tigereye.

"At least they can't use their elementals." Apollo scratched a long line in his pedestal.

"Yes, then they would have a chance of escaping. And we can't have that."

Apollo glanced at Condor. "But the little dragonet...the WaterClan one, he never was given a band."

"Ha, like he could even use his elemental!" Condor paused, thinking for a long moment. "Maybe these battles would be more interesting without the bands..."

Herring clawed at Tigereye who roared in fury. The brown dragon's tail lashed at him, knocking his opponent onto his side.

Herring squirmed out of the way as Tigereye leaped at him. The claws of the bigger dragon raked his wing, and he screamed in agony.

Tigereye reached out with unforseen speed and grabbed his neck, pinning the water dragon to the sand...hard.

Herring writhed under the earth dragon as his air supply was cut off. Tigereye hissed as he snapped his jaws next to the smaller dragon's ear.

Apollo sighed. It seemed to be the end of the fight. Condor grinned smugly next to him.

But Herring's claws found their way to Tigereye's horns, holding the earth dragon back from his face. His vision was beginning to waver from the lack of oxygen. One of his claws slipped, and cut a gash in his opponent's ear.

Tigereye roared in surprise at the pain. Blood ran down the side of his face, and his own paws lessened their hold on Herring's neck.

The small water dragon kicked into the earth dragon's snout with his hind legs, knocking him onto his back. Herring scrambled to his feet and dashed to the other side of the arena, panting and quivering.

"Brave dragon." Condor breathed, seeming very pleased with the battle. He glanced at Apollo. "Why is he in here?"

"He's guilty of a murder, the murder of a FireClan mother and her unborn chick." Apollo said without looking at the champion. "No one knew who the father was, but the whole clan was infuriated. He was caught and sent here."

Condor nodded thoughtfully.

In the arena, Tigereye was busy chasing down Herring, seething from his wounded ear and his wounded pride. Herring lashed out at Tigerye, catching a hold of the base of his wing. Tigereye leaped into the air, trying to rid himself of the water dragon who was clinging to him so tightly. Herring responded by sinking his shark-like fangs into the thick membrane of the larger dragon's wing.

Tigereye roared, slamming himself into the ground, flinging sand everywhere and pinning Herring under his weight.

Once the churning dust had settled, the screaming audience could clearly see that Tigereye had won. Herring was limply sprawled out in between the legs of the earth dragon. Tigereye roared in anger and triumph.

The crowd was madly cheering, the crashing din of riled up dragons echoing around the arena and multiplying exponentially.

Once the audience had settled and Delta and another dragon, a young StormClan dragon, had carried Herring off, Apollo turned to Condor.

"I suppose I had better find a way to entertain them before the next battle begins. The gladiators need a chance to prepare."

"Nova against Tigereye, a promising match." Condor growled with a smirk plastered on his face. "There was one who really catches my attention..."

But Apollo's gaze was focused on Tigereye, who was growling at Delta, who was trying to lead him down the tunnel so he could address the gladiator's wounds.

"Why is he in here, I wonder. A strong earth dragon fighter in the EarthClan prison. It just...it doesn't add up." Apollo watched as other guards had to step in to herd the gladiator down the tunnel.

Condor shrugged. "Everyone is in here for something."

Apollo turned to him. "Not if-"

"I lose?" Condor scoffed. "It'll never happen. After all, there's no band on me. I have an obvious advantage. And even if I did lose, I doubt Vesuvius would ever actually let anyone go. He'd rather kill them."