Dragons of War - Rising Storm

Chapter 15 (3/4)

"The training you will have here is going to be very different from what you had during your introduction. However, Devini doesn't expect you to conform to that of a trained soldier. He understands you know nothing of what you are involved in now." Tony began once I was close enough to sit by his perch. I listened carefully, even as my eyes scanned the surroundings and dragons. I didn't know if I was looking for someone, or not. I just searched.

"The first thing you need to know is that I am the Captin of this Regiment. I am in charge of overseeing all activities. However, the person you will be interacting with the most will be Luke," Tony went on. "He is in charge of all first-year trainees and will be your superior officer."

Tony pointed his snout to the sky and I turned my gaze to see a lone Warrior was circling directly above us.

"You can come down, now, Luke," Tony called out and the dragon above us slowly glided to the rocks.

Luke was a pure brown dragon. As he glided towards us I admired his unique wings. They were shorter than others I had seen, and very broad, but what made them so unique was the way the membranes connected all the way to the tip of his somewhat short tail. He had no other spines or horns, and his scales were small and thin enough to look like skin.

Luke landed neatly next to me and tucked his head near his chest.

"So you're the special one eh?" He began and I narrowed my eyes, waiting for his next words.

"Well it's nice to see you here. I know a lotta Warriors were betting you wouldn't make it." Luke ducked his head in greeting and then rose it again to meet Tony's gaze.

"You are going to learn very quickly that, while we are just as strict as the army, we are completely different in every other way." Tony went on and I turned to watch him. "The army wants only their own to join our ranks so that they retain a level of control within us, but what they do not realize is that there is no controlling a dragon army the way they want."

"This is why Devini is not so concerned with your training as a human as he is as a dragon. Luke here will show you the ropes, and I expect you to learn them well, but I need you to keep in mind, that the things you learn as a Dragon Warrior, do not apply anywhere else in this colony." Tony's eyes were sharp, and I knew there was more to what he had said, but I had no idea what he could've meant.

The army demanded full compliance with superior officers, as far as I had learned. The better you followed orders, the more highly you were praised. So how were the Dragon Warriors different?

I didn't have long to think about it before Luke turned away.

"Keep up! We don't have much time before the exercise begins." Luke called out to me and I was left to scramble after him. I ran up to meet him and walked by his side as we made our way through the dragons that stood around us.

Luke was a smaller dragon and was the same size as me, but I noticed every Warrior we passed ducked out of his way or made room for a clear path. No matter what he seemed like, the dragons there clearly respected him.

"For today we will keep it simple since you are here a bit late and there is a lot to take in." Luke began. "All Dragon Warriors are grouped together among those they were first Changed with. Once through basic, and they have achieved their Dragon form, they are moved into a larger group, but maintain their own ranks. The larger group contains everyone from the same year. You are a first year, so all in your main group are also first years."

"Every year has a commanding officer, you're looking at year one, but beyond that, there are also squad leaders. They are Warriors within their group that have achieved enough recognition to be promoted and are in charge of individual groups. A group must contain at least eight individuals and should that number not be met, a Warrior from another, larger, group will merge to meet that number. As it stands, your group had enough members to stand on it's own and your squad leader is Fred Davis."

Luke stopped on the edge of the rocks and his head angled down.

"We tend to rank by where we are on the rocks. You'll find all first years on the lowest rocks. It's not a requirement, it's just how things always work out," Luke commented and I glanced over at him.

Tony's words about the Dragon Warriors not being like the rest of the army was beginning to sink in.

My head angled down to where he had looked and I saw a few familiar forms.

There was Sarah, with her soft lavender hue. She was the smallest dragon down there but she was still larger than me.

Next to her were the wide shoulders of Kevin, his pale green color seemed sickly next to her bright colors. And Howard sat on his hind legs like a person, his arm rested and leaning on the rock next to him. They were all there, and Fred laid on a rock just above them. His pale blue color made him stand out from their dark shades.

"Right now we are at a break to gather the various dragons on their different training schedules for one last group activity for the day." Luke went on. "I will let your squad leader explain further since I have to make sure the rest of my platoon is all gathered. I will meet up with you once this exercise is done to explain more," he finished.

Luke bent down and shifted on his feet before he jumped off the side of the cliff and spread his wings. He fell quite a bit before he finally caught the wind and I felt like there was a lot of weight behind those broad wings. Maybe not just the literal kind.

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