The Curse's Breath

Chapter Thirty-Two

"What?" Celni gasped. She was about to shout out, That's insane! I can't kill a dragon! But she stopped herself just in time. She was just a soldier to them, and saying that would definitely cause questions--and consequences.

"You heard him. It's plain and simple." Srenya's eyes flashed with excitement. "Let's go, right now."

"Hold on," Dyrnen interjected. "I still have a few things to tweak on the new section." He caught Celni's eye.

He's stalling for me, Celni realized.

"Fine. Then the contest will be held in three days. Sound fair to everyone?" Mawk looked around at everyone, then nodded. "Alright. Girls, I suggest you start preparing. And Dyrnen, start doing... whatever mechanical things you do. But for now, we have to get on with the training session. Let's go."

Mawk turned around to gather the other young soldiers, and Srenya followed with one last burning look over her shoulder at Celni.

"This is so exciting!" Hyden cried. "The tiger and the panther, in battle at last. Who will win? The brave, loyal Celni or the clever, vindictive Srenya?" He rubbed his hands together with a glint in his eye.

"You truly are hopeless, brother." Dyfar said with an amused shake of his head.

"You know you're looking forward to this too," Hyden said, giving him a playful shove before turning to follow where Mawk had gone. Dyfar caught up with a quick stride of his long legs, shoving him in return.

"Do you think you can beat her?"

Celni turned to look into the earnest eyes of Rozanel. She looked more worried than the boys had been. "I don't know," Celni admitted. "But I have to try."

Rozanel smiled. "Good. I know you've got this." She left to join the others, leaving just Celni and Dyrnen behind.

Waiting until Rozanel was out of earshot, Celni whipped around to face Dyrnen. "What am I going to do?" she cried. "I've never killed a dragon before!"

He shook his head helplessly. "You're going to have to."

"If I get in there, I'm going to look into those eyes, and I won't be able to," she said. "I would know that I'm killing someone's sister, or father, or..." Celni bit her lip. "I can't do this, Dyrnen."

He looked away, running a hand through his blond hair. When he looked back, an idea had sparked in his eyes. "What if you weren't killing a real dragon?"

Celni frowned. "I'm... not following?"

"What if you were fighting a robot dragon instead?" Dyrnen's eyes brightened as he formulated his plan. "Mawk would never allow it, but if I snuck it in... it would be so realistic, no one would know the difference."

"But Srenya would know. She would tell everyone," Celni argued.

"Not if you won. No one would believe a sore loser's complaints," he said, smirking.

Celni nodded slowly. "That just might work."

"I'll start working on the mechanics. But either way, it'll fight like a real dragon, so you need to be prepared. Go join the training session, you're going to need the practice."

"Thank you. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much you've saved me," she said earnestly.

"Well, if what you say is true, then you will be the one to save us all. So it's the least I can do in return." Dyrnen smiled and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Now go!" he said, shooing her off with his hand.

Celni gave a quick nod and sprinted off to join the others. Mawk glanced at her as she joined the crowd. "Good. Now that we're all here, we can start. Today's lesson is simple. Divide your team into two sides, and then each side is going to fight the other. There's a bigger selection of weapons this time, so grab your choice, find a section of the arena and begin. Don't forget your protective armor, I don't want anyone injured today."