Lucian muttered.
“If it makes you feel better, I’m alone in amphibian studies. And trust me, you don’t want to be alone with Salvador Mottleback. He’s boring and looks like he’s coated in moldy mud.”
Lucian laughed as they walked into the greenhouse. The class seemed to fly by and then about half the students were dismissed. The boys waited for Russett to continue their instruction. “Alright, gentlemen,” he said as the last straggler left, “you boys are in here to learn about magic seeds. Most of the plants we’ll study are quite harmless, but some won’t be. So, we’ll be studying plant safety this week.”
The class seemed to drag until dragon fighting. As the boys walked into the arena-like classroom, Vulcan Firebrand was standing in the pit. “Come to the front row and have a seat, lads,” he said. When everyone had taken a seat, Vulcan got things started. “Dragon fighting is a very serious matter. Any horseplay or tomfoolery will be severely punished. There’s no room for it in my classroom and I’ll not tolerate it. Am I understood?”
“Yes, sir,” the boys replied.
Vulcan eyed them with fiery eyes. “Good. Now, understand that in class, you are not in serious danger. However, if you let your guard slip while fighting a dragon, it may be the last thing you ever do. This class will prepare you to take on the dragons that may or may not be in your future quests.”
As though on cue, an enormous dragon entered through a gate at the other end of the classroom. It seemed to eye each boy through yellow-orange reptilian eyes while its green scales shimmered in the sunlight pouring through the windows. Smoked curled from its nostrils and its fangs glistened. “A pitiful lot this one. May I eat them, Vulcan?”
The boys jaws dropped as Vulcan replied, “No, Draconus, you can’t eat the students.”
“Pity,” Draconus said. “They look tasty and I’ve not had supper yet. Except for that one,” he continued looking scornfully at Adrian. “Looks rather sick doesn’t he? All that green.”
“I warned you already about that, Draconus,” Vulcan barked.
The dragon snickered, “So sorry, couldn’t resist.”
“I look green?” Adrian whispered to Lucian.
Lucian shrugged as one of the other boys squeaked, “It talks!”
Draconus rolled his eyes. “Three thousand years I’ve been teaching these princelings and every single year they say the same thing. ‘It talks!’” he mimicked. “No wonder my brothers eat them. Highly unoriginal, the whole lot of them. Of course I can talk, young princeling. All dragons can talk.”
“But dragons only speak their own language,” Kaelen retorted. “Lorelei said so.”
Flames burst from Draconus’ mouth as he laughed. “You believe that fish? It’s true that most dragons only speak in our tongue. It’s hardly worth the effort of learning the languages of your prey. However, since I owe Vulcan my life, I’ve given up the taste of men. Cattle taste so much better; especially rare and still mooing.” He snickered again as he licked his lips with a forked tongue. “As I have to train you I must be able to speak to you. And since you butcher my own language, it was less painful to learn your rather vulgar tongue.”
“We’re not that bad,” Kaelen snapped, his pride wounded.
“Are you sure I can’t eat him? I’d give him a head start, make it sporting,” Draconus hissed.
“Yes I’m sure you can’t eat him,” Vulcan replied. “Kaelen, even the most skilled of linguists trip over Dragon. We lack the forked tongues that aid in proper pronunciation.” Turning to the class, he continued, “As Draconus said, he has been with the school three thousand years. He will do most of the instruction in this class as he can best prepare you for the encounters you will face. I would advise all of you to take note of what he says.”
Draconus seemed to smile and said, “Right then, shall we begin, little princelings?” For the rest of the class, he droned on and on about the different types of dragons, the history of dragons and anything else that came to mind concerning dragons. He didn’t allow the boys to ask questions and didn’t even stop for breath. It was the most boring hour and a half the boys had ever sat through.
“And we didn’t even get to try fighting him!” Kaelen complained as they walked to supper.
“You’re just mad because he wanted to eat you,” George teased.
“He’s got a point though,” Adrian admitted. “If all we do is lecture we’ll never learn anything.”
“I suppose we’ll learn their weakness,” Lucian said with a grin.
“And what might that be?” Kaelen asked.
“Vanity,” Lucian replied. “He’s so absorbed in himself and dragons as a race that it would be to our advantage to use that against him. Other dragons are probably very similar.”
“Well look who knows so much,” Kaelen muttered.
“Oh come off it, Kaelen.” Jacobi rolled his eyes. “You’ve been like this all day. What’s eating you?”
“Nothing.”
By the time Friday came, every third year student hated dragon fighting and thought Draconus would do well at a barbeque as the main course. “It’s been two days already and there hasn’t been a single fight. He just sits there talking the whole time. We can’t even ask questions because if we raise our hands Dronecus ignores us,” George complained as they sat at breakfast Friday morning.
“Just be glad that none of us have to deal with him again for five whole days,” Lucian said. He couldn’t help agreeing with his friends. The class had been a waste.
“I can’t wait until we actually get to use weapons in that class,” Kaelen said through grit teeth. “I’d like to shish kabob him.”
“I don’t think it’ll be that easy,” Adrian groaned.
They continued chatting about other things until it was time to go to their first class. The day went by quickly and soon they were separating to go to their Friday afternoon specialty course. Lucian and George walked out to the gazebo for foreign language.
When they arrived, Lorelei was sunning herself on a rock in the middle of the lake. “Oh, good afternoon boys,” she called. “Have a seat.” She dove into the water and swam to the large rock inside the gazebo. “Well, you boys are the lucky two. We will be doing intensive, in-depth study of Dragon. Then perhaps you can teach that lizard some manners,” she said with a steely glance at the castle.
“Um, Lorelei, why do you and Draconus hate each other so much?” George asked.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Now, Dragon is a particularly difficult language to learn because of the forked tongue. Obviously I’m not going to split your tongues, but I can teach you a few tricks to help you properly pronounce the words in three different dialects of Dragon; Eastern, Sea Serpent, and Common.” She said the last with a slight giggle which gave George and Lucian every reason to believe that Draconus fell in the last category. “Let’s begin with the trill, shall we?”
For the rest of the hour, George and Lucian trilled. Lorelei would stop them and demonstrate before making them start again.
“How are you supposed to trill ‘l’?” George asked in frustration as they walked back to the castle. As they got closer, they could hear a heated argument between Achilles and Tallia.
“You nearly drowned him,” Tallia shrieked.
“What was I supposed to do? The boy has to learn to swim,” Achilles argued. “He wouldn’t get in on his own.”
“So you just tossed him in at the deepest end of the pool? What were you thinking?” Tallia demanded.
Achilles was sputtering as Calista came outside. “Perhaps you’d best finish this discussion later. Tallia,” she continued as each blushed and Achilles stormed off, “how is he?”
“Still in shock. His color is returning to normal; well as normal as it can be.”
George and Lucian walked up the stairs after rounding the corner. Calista saw them and said to Tallia, “Good, go make sure everything else is alright.”
“It’s Adrian isn’t it?” Lucian asked.
/> “How long have you been listening?” Calista asked. Tallia stood still; looking as though she’d been caught saying something she shouldn’t have said.
“We heard shouting as we were coming back from foreign language,” George replied.
“Yes, it’s Adrian. You can come up with me and see him,” Tallia said. She nodded to Calista and the boys followed her inside.
When they arrived at the infirmary, they found Adrian sitting on a bed, his teeth chattering. “He tried to kill me. I can’t swim. Tell them I can’t swim, Lucian.” Panic showed in Adrian’s eyes as he looked at Lucian.
“This must be part of your quest,” George said. “You’ll figure it out.”
“Well, I quit then, because the only person who hates water more than me is Allegra and I doubt she’ll take kindly to being told we have to swim somewhere,” Adrian retorted.
“That’s ridiculous,” Calista said from behind them. The boys all jumped and turned to look at her. “I’ll not hear you mention quitting again, Adrian. You have far too much potential for such a poor attitude. However, as we were unaware of how far behind you are, Achilles will be modifying your lessons. Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll be a fine swimmer. Now, why don’t you and George head to supper? I need to speak with Lucian for a moment.”
The two looked at Tallia. “Yes, you can go silly,” she replied with a smile. “You’ll be fine, Adrian.”
They left and Calista turned to Lucian. “You didn’t answer my question earlier. How long