Page 106 of Upon Buried Embers
Men and women fight each other in a large area that’s fenced off in a circular shape. Weapons line the outside of the fence, and people loiter there, arms dangling over the wood as they watch on. Cheering and some shouting.
“What is this?” I ask, watching Adora punch someone in the face, blood spurting from her nose as she falls to the ground, and I realize it’s Darcia.
Fiona rushes over to help her up, and they both leave the area, stopping to stand by the fence.
I look away from them.
The snow there is now turned to slush, and those fighting don’t seem to mind the cold as most males are topless, and the women in very short tunics that stop just under their breasts.
“Training,” Calian tells me.
“This is training?” Fear spears through me. There’s no way I can do that!
“For them, anyway.” The flapping of wings comes from above, and I look up at a green dragon flying overhead, looking down at everyone.
Hedoric.
All he would have to do is open his mouth and set the fire in his belly free, and they would all be dead.
“This is barbaric,” I say when I look back down and see that a man has a woman in a chokehold, and another woman has a man on his knees, gasping for air.
A woman with brown hair does a jumping kick thing that knocks out another woman, then she turns quickly, jumping on the back of another as a man gets thrown to the floor.
If I have to go in there… all I would do is get hurt.
“This is clan training, Short Stack.”
“What is the point of this? They’re just hurting each other.”
Calian folds his arms. “There are a few reasons. One, to train is to learn to absorb pain, no one comes out unharmed. The reason?” The crowd cheers. “To learn to carry on in a fight with some pain. Oh, that was a good punch.” He points to a man now missing a tooth. “Another reason is to train instincts in offense and defense, to hone quick thinking and decision making to either not get hurt, or to hurt others.”
“You make it sound so… formal.”
He turns to look at me, the scars on his face shifting. “It is, Short Stack.” He turns back to them. “Danger is everywhere, even more so now. The king is our enemy, other clans are ourenemy. Wild dragons can be our enemy.” He looks me over. “Youcould be our enemy.”
“I would never!” I gasp.
He shrugs. “We cannot be lax about clan safety. Including the dragons.”
My brows furrow. “I thought the king left you alone because of the truce in place. That’s why you have The Games? And why are other clans the enemy? Surely they want to be left alone, too?”
He looks over those training with a keen eye. “The king leaves the Dragorie people alone, publicly, for the most part. But he sends out others to kill us often. We don’t know whether it’s to test our defenses, or kill us all. We’ve managed to get rid of those threats. But more specifically, he probably wants to kill our dragons. He’s made it no secret that he hates us having them on our side.”
Others see it as a threat. That’s what Rohan said.
“And the other clans?” When I met the other leaders at The Graveyard, they seemed okay. Scary, but other than Karag, they weren’t outright disrespectful to Rohan.
He shrugs. “We’ve been at odds with the other clans since before I was little. We’re friendly at times, and then tension rises again. Having Dragonbonds clash in power and honor is unavoidable at times, and blood is spilled at least once yearly, so it isn’t a stretch to think one would hire others to come and either sabotage our food supply or try and kill us.”
“As in, hired assassins?”
“Mercenaries,” he corrects. “Apart from that, we try to kill each other every now and then.” He turns and smiles, and it’s not a friendly one. “Nothing like a fight to show who is greater.”
My hands shake and I clasp them in front of me.
“But why?”
The violence is so unnecessary, fittingly barbaric.
