FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Flying right, Ryukan swung his sword and felt resistance as he struck at my target blindly, then heard it scream. Father cast a mage-lite so that they could see what faced them. Before them flew Dranakes, these draconic/snake like creatures can be worthy adversaries and will attack on sight. The one before him was wielding a two handed broadsword and now had a gash on its right shoulder, oozing silver blood.

Forgetting the pain, it hefted its blade and swung at him again. Parrying, Ryu swung at it and missed. It took the opportunity and whipped him with its tail, then swung again. Again he blocked the blow, but only by sheer luck, so he went on the defensive. Blows rained down but he blocked every one until another Dranâke came up behind him.

Pain ran down Ryukan's back as they took the advantage of distraction. He turned to face his new opponent just in time to see a dagger find itself lodged in the side of its skull. Takil flew over and retrieved the knife as the thing dropped into darkness. A whack from a thick tail reminded him of his first opponent. Turning back around, he had barely enough time to dodge a blow from the Dranakes' sword. He returned a clumsy swing and missed.

The creature laughed at his attempt and swung again. This time he blocked the sword, flicked it to the side and drew his sword across its torso. It howled in pain and swung, blinded with pain and anger. He dropped a few feet and made a gash in the tail as it has no legs. The red dragon felt more pain as a tip sliced open his left shoulder. Blindly, he shoved his blade skyward and heard a gurgle as weight came down on me. Looking to see what the weight was he found it to be the Dranake. His sword was lodged in its chest and it was slumped, so he lowered the blade and let the body fall.

Father came up from behind and placed a hand on my shoulder. Ryu jumped when I felt the hand and he just chuckled, "let me look at those wounds." As he inspected he said, "You seemed to have handled yourself well, these wounds are not serious though they will hinder your performance. Drakes Heil Valien." The smaller drakes' wounds seared with pain as Father healed them with a minor patching spell. The spell only stops the bleeding and patches the skin. When the wounds no longer bled he said, "Let us continue, the other students cannot begin arriving at the placement areas until we do."

We all continued flying down into the darkness, though Jestiliin was in an altogether different mood, one that she had never expressed before. Ryukan slowly hovered over to her and whispered, "Jestiliin, are you ok?"

"I killed it, Ryukan, I killed it." She replied, shocked. "Why does it not feel like I thought it would? I had thought that to kill something would feel right somehow, but all I feel is sorrow and regret that I actually did that. Ryukan, I can still see its face, can you?" she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Yes, I can. I shall not lie to you, they will not go away." she began crying when she heard that. "I felt the same way when I killed my first deer. When I told Father, he said that if you kill for a good reason, then they should not bother you for long. Today you do have a reason to have killed. You killed it because if you had not than it would have killed you; you killed because you did it in self-defense." As he explained, she relaxed slightly but was stilled shocked at exactly what she had done.

"We are here," Father called back as we neared a large ledge. The ledge jutted out about a third of a mile. On which stood seven dragon swordsman, five precision bowman, and two draconic elites' stood. A small desk also sat on the ledge, placed before a small opening.

As they landed, their talons clacked on the stone surface alerting the bowmen whom immediately notched arrows and aimed in their direction. One of the Elites stepped forward and commanded, "remove your spells and reveal yourselves or find how much it hurts to have arrows biting flesh."

Father replied, "There is no need for that sir, we are not here to harm anyone. These spells are to protect me and my family. If it is alright, I shall lower the spells around me but I wish for the others to stay under the spells so as to avoid detection from anything."

"No, that is not needed. This ledge has a cloaking spell over it so there is no need for those spells." He lifted a hand to signal the bowmen, "Now I shall not say it again, remove your spells." Father quickly removed his spells and the rest of the family followed suit. The Elite motioned for the bowmen to lower their bows then turned to the other elite and said, "Retrieve the professor, quickly."

"That shall not be necessary, as I am already here." Every one turned in the direction of the voice. Behind the desk stood a tall, proud gryphon with tanned feathers, brown fur, and a patch of white on his chest. "Come forth, it is a delight to see you again Master Elite Del'tranir'kiin." The warriors gasped and began muttering amongst themselves.

The first elite's eyes widened in surprise and he knelt before Father, bowing his head. "I have threatened you and your family great sir. What would you have done to me as punishment?"

"Nothing," Said Father, walking over, he pulled the warrior to his feet. "I gave that title away a long time ago." Ryu's jaw dropped as he stared at his father in awe. He never once told me that he had THIS much respect in the Draconic Army, let alone that he had achieved that high of a rank. "Now," Father continued, "I do believe that I have some papers to sign and some changes to make concerning the sign-up search."

"Yes here are the papers, and might I ask what gives you permission to all of a sudden make changes about the way we do things?" the professor inquired.

"I am the headmaster of the academy for these placement areas." Father responded as he walked up to the desk with a surprised gryphon and picked up a quill. He conversed with the gryphon as he filled out four different forms. When he finished, the professor looked over the forms and motioned for the kids forward to begin the student sign-up search. He began with the girls and searched their bags, weapons, sheathes, and ending each by searching their pockets of space. Finishing with Ryukan's he pointed towards the opening. They picked up our belongings and went through.

Going through, the children caught sight of the inspectors. They ushered us forward, explaining what the rules were during the inspection obstacle course and giving each of us a chain that was to be put around their waist so that their progress could be monitored at all times. As soon as they all stepped into the starting circle they tapped the chains and had them begin. The first obstacle was a pit that they had to swing over using ropes. Second being a low set of logs that they had to jump over. Third was a high cliff that they had to climb.

Takil reached the cliff before the rest of us and began climbing. Ryukan reached it next but waited and helped his sisters begin the climb, heading up after them. Takil got about halfway up and found that his path had stopped. Corbala came up beside him and said, "Did we get ourselves stuck Takil?" she asked rhetorically. "Hmm, looks like we did just a bit."

"Shut-up," he snapped, "I am not stuck I just need a new path, so move over so I can." Corbala moved over as far right as she could while Takil prepared to jump. He took a second took estimate distance and jumped. His hand grasped a smooth jutting rock and slipped, his body tensed and he fell. Flailing, he got his tail snagged in a small crevice and slammed against the wall. I heard a small pop and his tail came loose as he yelped in pain. Jestiliin reached out in an attempt to catch him but missed. Ryu shot his hand out and just barely caught him by the tail. "My wing," he said through his teeth. "I think my wing is broken."

Ryu looked down and saw the broken bone. "For this exact reason is why it is better to work as a team rather than individually. Had we not been here, your injuries would have been greater." I scorned. "We need to stick together, at least until the inspectors make us split up, o.k."

"Fine," Takil agreed, "but that doesn't mean that I'm going to agree with everything you say."

"I wouldn't want it any other way." Ryu pulled Takil up till the dark grey dragon could grab onto the red's and get a hold on the rock wall looked up at Corbala and motioned for her to continue as best he could. It was a slow and tedious climb, but they eventually made it to the top and helped each other over. Turning they found their next obstacle, a field filled with a thick thicket of thorny vines. The thicket stretched for one hundred yards, half the length of a tailball field.

"We have to get through this, it's impossible." Corbala moaned

"It would be passable if we should fly over," suggested Takil, "unless you don't wish to be penalized."

"Yes that is a good idea Takil, but your wing is broken, so we can't do that," reminded Jestiliin. "I do, though, see a path that goes around the thicket. At least I think it does." We all looked at the path that she pointed at. "I think we should take that route."

"I disagree," he said.

"Of course you would!" Takil exclaimed. "Ryukan, you are always trying to find and take the harder route. Why not try taking the easy route for once?"

"Because I like a good challenge, you know that. Besides, usually the harder route...."

"Exactly, usually the harder route!" interrupted Takil. "That does not mean that it will always lead to a greater reward. Sometimes the harder route leads you to be worse off than when you started. Please Ryukan, just this once; take the easier route with us." He paused for a moment to let Ryu think about it. "If you do not like it, then I shall not urge you to again. Just please Ryukan, just this once, please." He begged.

"O.k., o.k., there is no need to beg. I shall go with you." Ryu began following Jestiliin since she saw the path first. The path was wide enough for two at a time yet narrowed a little down the way. It had trees on either side, which the drake found a tad strange. Looking up, he was surprised to find that they were under sky rather than stone. They must have been somehow transported here as they climbed. Turning his attention back to what they were heading for, he now also saw grass patches along the worn dirt path. The nearer we got to the path, the more he felt in his gut that something was not right.

"Guys stop, something does not feel right." They kept walking, as though they did not hear him. Takil turned around and waved for him to catch up. He sped up and became level with him, "Takil, something does not feel right."

"You are just saying that because we are all taking an easier route, and you for the first time in, say, forever. Relax, we shall be fine." He comforted and patted Ryukan on the shoulder causing him to wince in pain. "Oh, sorry bro," he stiffened then, fell to the ground and began to convulse.

Ryu walked a bit more before he noticed that he was not beside him. Whipping around, he watched for a second before he shouted, "Takil!" and reached into his bag, pulled out a few leaves, ran over, stuffed them down his throat and asked "How many times a day?" He held up his hand and showed five, "Barzalsht Takil!" Ryu said shoving a few more into his gullet. Slowly the convulsions calmed, leaving their victim curled up in a ball and gasping for air.

"Why?" he managed to say in a feeble voice.

"This was done by none other than you." Ryukan explained. "Did you really think it was going to be that easy taking you off Draconisean? You are going to have other attacks like that." Ryu helped him up onto his feet and looked at the girls. Their faces were stricken with fear as they looked at Takil. "Do you think you can continue?"

"Yeah, I think so." He said and began walking down the path again. We all stayed close behind him so that we could watch in case of another attack.

We arrived at the end of the path and found themselves at one of the checkpoints the inspectors told them about before they even began. The inspectors ushered them over and checked them over for any wounds that may hinder their performance, healed Takils' wing, tapped the chains at their waists, and made them continue. Moving forward, they came to another inspector,

"From here you will continue individually. In addition, from here until the next checkpoint, you are to use your bows while you are running and shoot every target you see but do not stop moving. This shall be to test your abilities in the bow and your agility. Place these ribbons around your arrows as you go so that you may retrieve them afterwards.

Every shot that you take, along with every time the arrow hits and where on the target it hits shall be recorded in your progress chain." One by one, they found themselves rushed forward into a forested area where there had to be many places to hide targets. Ryukan was the last to go so he got the most time to figure out what he was going to do with the ribbons.

Finding his first target, he notched an arrow, placed the ribbon on the tip, and shot with every ounce of aim he had. He watched it fly and strike the target, it hit! He thought to himself, as he was horrible with the bow. O_h, Draco that actually hit!_ Continuing to run the half-mile course, he repeated the process with every target he saw, striking very few of them. As we came out of the forest area, the instructors let us catch our breaths before tapping our chains and having us turn around and retrieve the arrows. Ryukan began retrieving his arrows and the ribbons, counting as he went.

When he retrieved all thirty of his arrows, he returned to the instructor and gave her the ribbons. "For this next course, you are to use your melee weapon only." She said as she accepted the ribbons. "Again you are not to stop but neither must you run again. You will again be heading through individually and are to hit every target along the path five to six times. The strikes to each target shall be recorded by your progress chain." Repeating the instructions to each new participant, she sent us moving down the next course.

Resting for even that small amount of time was not a good thing for his legs. They had begun to stiffen as he stood there and felt a little heavier as he began to move again. This alone Ryu found to interfere with the stance as he swung his sword at the first target. The fifth blow already made him stumble, as did the rest of the targets. It got worse the further down the path he went. The fact that this was already how his body was reacting told him that there was still a lot for him to learn.

His sword felt heavy in his grasp as he swung it at each target he came up to them. It was making his arms burn and every time it hit; he could feel the force of every hit in his tail and it hurt. By the end of the course, he was using his tail just to keep balance. One of the instructors saw him as he came off the course, sheathing his sword, and called him over. When near he gave Ryukan a flask of water and he, thanking him, gulped a few mouthfuls down.

As it was handed back, he said, "Alright now this next course is the last," encouragingly. On this next course you will have to use magic." Ryu groaned at those words, as he was already tired. The instructor looked at the red drake apologetically, "I know that you are tired, but you will be happy when you are finished. Now, there are more targets that you must strike. You must use each of the four main elements.

You cannot use an element twice in a row and you cannot use the same pattern twice in a row. This is a one mile course. There is no need to run but you cannot stop to concentrate on striking a target with magic." He tapped the progress chain. "Your progress is now being recorded, I am sorry to say this but, get going," after a moment he added, "and good luck. Oh and you cannot use any spell, potion, or ingredient to increase your power, stamina, or speed," finally letting Ryu go.

Why does magic have to be the last course? Ryukan thought to himself, why could it not be the first so that we can be in tiptop shape and we can do our best at it? Ryu groaned again as the first target came into range. He almost could not get his mind focused enough as he summoned the magic. Letting it flow through his body, enjoying the sensations as it tickled and teased at every inch of his body and subconscious.

Then letting it loose, the feeling changed to heat as the magic took on the form of fire. The flames struck the target in the form of a small ball of fire. The target rippled for it was made of magic as well. The drake heard a chime that took him out of focus and he looked at the chain around his waist. It glowed briefly, recording his progress, and he took a short moment to wonder why he never heard that before. Then dropped it and continued on his way.

After what seemed like forever, he made it to the end of the student-testing course. There was a blue furred wolf sitting next to a portal reading a book. She looked up at his approach and said, "Congratulations, you have reached the end of the student testing course." She stood and extended a pawed hand to the portal. "If you would please step through the portal, you shall be transported to the schools front doors. From there you will be given your room key and welcomed." She finished with a smile and a cheerful tone.

Walking up to the portal, I paused and looked at her. "Hopefully you don't get too down; er students will miss that beautiful smile of yours." He said with a wink.

She smiled a bit brighter and giggled. "Well now, aren't you flattering? I'll try to keep this smile as long as I can manage, alright. Now you go on, you're already running late." Ryu smiled back and stepped through the portal.

Arriving at the front door of the school, all three of the dorm managers looked up at him. Professor Bullhorn, a bull, taught advanced physical education. Professor Trunz, a lizard, teaches three different language classes, so she's also called Professor Tongues, though not during class. Professor Lufear, a gryphon, teaches alchemy.

"Welcome back Ryukan," Professor Bullhorn said, "how was the S.T.C?"

"Tiresome," Ryukan said stifling a yawn.

"I'll sssay," said Professor Trunz smiling toothily, "you look like you could lie down on a rock and sssleep like one too." She said laughing.

Professor Lufear looked up from his papers, holding up a room key, and said, "Get up to your room and get some sleep before you collapse right here. Your stuff should already be in there." He chuckled and grabbed the key.

Heading through the door, he looked at the room number and almost stopped right then and there. "The fourth floor dad?" the red dragon mumbled. "You couldn't have picked one a little lower down." Ryu groaned and headed for the stairs. About ten minutes later, he arrived at the correct door and put the key in the knob. It was a slightly abnormal dorm room, instead of two bedrooms; it had four bedrooms, one living room, and a small electric fireplace with a couch and a couple chairs around it; that sort of place. He went into one room and found a pile of boxes with the name 'Wereblood' on them. Checking the other room, he found a similar pile with his name written on them. Shutting the door behind him, he took off his stuff, striped down to his boxers and plopped down on the bed, falling asleep almost instantly.