Old Threats Renewed
#4 of The Last Dragons, Revisited
And the second part of the second installment of the new version of the Last Dragons. Once again, I hope you enjoy it.
As always, comments are apprecaited and requested.
Continued from "Magic and Truth"...
The man who walked through the corridors of the underground complex looked much like to anyone else in the government research site. He was about average height, dressed in a business suit and perhaps the only thing that made him stand out among the other administrators and scientists he passed was his athletic build and obvious strength, or maybe the way he carried himself, balanced, as if ready to react in an instant. But he was truly unique. He alone, of all the people he passed, knew why this facility was so well funded, and why there were dozens of soldiers in combat gear standing guard around the complex. He alone knew the greatest of all secrets, a secret that had been forgotten by the rest of the world long ago. When he reached the end of the hall, the man nodded to the two MPs who stood guard at the elevators. At that signal, both of them moved to block the way of several technicians so he could board the elevator alone.
When the doors closed, he put his hand on the reader and waited for it to scan his fingerprints. A moment later, the speaker chimed and a cheery voice said, "Security Clearance confirmed. Welcome Juno." With that, the elevator descended into the earth, bypassing the floors that were actually marked on the elevator buttons. The man called Juno rolled his eyes at the entirely too happy voice. What the designers had been thinking when they chose that voice, he didn't know. He hated coming here, so the cheery greeting just seemed insincere and more than a little creepy, almost making him feel like it was inviting him to his doom. But, as the elevator began to slow down to a stop, he stripped off his business suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his undershirt, revealing his forearms. And there was the only outward sign of his secret; on both of his forearms, a mark had been tattooed, a strange, twisting mark in an ancient style, a mark that glowed an eerie light blue as if it were bioluminescent. The moment the doors opened, the MPs that stood at the checkpoint right outside looked him over, then saluted him, though he bore no sign of rank. He nodded in return and walked on down the corridor, slinging his jacket over his shoulder.
This level of the facility was a closely guarded secret, something that technically didn't exist, and it was the reason that the facility existed. Most of this level was made up of identical labs and storerooms, but Juno knew exactly where he was going. A few minutes later, he reached the door to an unmarked lab and waited as the airlock cycled him through. These labs had originally been designed to handle bio research, but they had been repurposed when this project had started. Inside the lab, a tall man stood with his back to the door, a screen showing a flat view of the earth on the wall before him. Small twinkling lights stood out here and there on the screen and the man did not react as Juno walked up to him. Only when the light he had been staring at vanished did the man move, heaving a sigh and finally turning around. When he saw who was standing there, his face split in a smile and Juno returned the smile a little reluctantly. An identical pair of glowing blue marks adorned the other man's forearms and flared briefly as he embraced his younger brother. "Juno, its good to see you!!"
"And you, Jason." Juno stated and then pulled back from the older man. "Now, why did you call me back here again? I have a life outside this project you know."
"Surely you must have sensed it?" Jason said, and Juno rolled his eyes. Jason had always seemed to delight in being annoyingly cryptic. "Can't you feel it? The force of magic is getting stronger. Don't you realize what this must mean?"
"Why don't you tell all of us?" Another voice said from behind the brothers, its tone of voice one that left little doubt as to the person's mood. Bad. The two tattooed men turned around to find three older men, all of them wearing military dress uniforms with high rank, flanked by two more soldiers in fatigues.
"General Grey, I didn't know you would be here today." Jason said, his voice subdued, obviously less than happy to see his visitors.
"That is what happens when you ask for more money before the budget committee is scheduled to meet." The general said, crossing his arms and glaring at the pair of civilians. "Now, why don't you tell us what you meant?"
"It means that what we have long hoped for is happening." Jason stated. "The dragons are returning." General Grey set his jaw in an obvious attempt to hold his temper in check, rolling his eyes in exasperation.
"Doctor, we have tolerated your foibles long enough." The colonel standing to Grey's right stated. "We have been sinking millions of dollars in your 'Dragon Hunting' projects for the last five years, and we have not had one thing to show for it. Quite frankly, this is your last chance. Do you have any proof of your claims? Anything at all that will prove that all this effort is worth it?"
"Proof?" Jason sneered, fire blazing in his eyes, his brother wincing at his tone. "You want proof? Here is your proof."
With that, he raised a hand and pointed with one finger at the officer who had spoken these last words, the marks on his arms flaring brightly. For a few moments, nothing happened, and then the colonel's eyes went wide, beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead. Moments later, brilliant, white hot flames suddenly spread across the man's flesh, the wool of his dress uniform igniting in an instant. Before the other men could move, the man was writhing on the ground, his screams becoming increasingly frantic as the flames refused to go out. As the officer's screams turned into a gurgling moan that gradually faded away, the sickly sweet scent of charred flesh filled the air of the sealed room, making the visitors gag. But the magic user was not done yet. The two soldiers, who had drawn their sidearms the moment the fires had ignited, suddenly found the weapons yanked from their hands, both pistols crumpling into useless balls of steel before their eyes, producing a metallic squeal that set the teeth on edge. As the remaining men stood frozen, watching as the useless weapons dropped suddenly to the ground, Jason looked down at the charred body, his grin wholly unpleasant, before looking up at the remaining officers.
"All I have ever asked for is the resources to find the dragons who gave my family these powers long ago. And what have I been greeted with instead?" Jason snarled, staring around angrily. "Ridicule. Superior sneers and whispers as I pass and now, outright disrespect. Your attitude offends me, and I am just about out of patience. Now, General, do you need more proof, or have enough of your underlings died?"
"That was proof enough." General Grey replied, seemingly nonplussed by the sudden death of one of his fellows. "You will get your funding. But are you really sure that if we find these dragons you speak of, you can give our men powers like that?"
"Absolutely." Jason replied coldly, showing no sign of discomfort at having just violently murdered someone. He suddenly whirled around as the computer beeped behind him, as if soldiers who stood in the room were of no further importance. On the screen, another of the dots had vanished. "Soon, we will know exactly where they are hiding. Soon, only one location will remain and then you will have your prize. Until then, leave me alone to work."
***
When I finally slid back out of the realm of dreams, I would have sworn that I had spent the last few hours with my mouth hanging open. My throat felt as dry as a desert and I had the same sort of disoriented sensation that you got when waking up from a nap in a patch of sunshine. Opening my eyes revealed that I was still in the cavern, the magic light that my mate had summoned earlier still lighting up the room. Lifting my head seemed to require a great deal of energy and I groaned, looking around in confusion. I was lying in a position that was hardly comfortable, my left arm having fallen asleep and one leg lying at an angle that was making it throb with a dull pain. In fact, the only limb that wasn't uncomfortable was my tail, which was stretched out flat behind me on the floor. Shifting over so I was on my feet, I realized that the lump I that I had been lying on was actually my mate's tail, it having been curled around me when I had fallen over last night. At once, I smiled, the memory of what had prompted my sleeping in such a position coming back to me. Pyre was still sleeping, sprawled on her belly and I let her be for a while. Opening my jaws wide in a yawn, my tongue curling in my jaws, I suddenly coughed, a profound itching sensation in my throat. Using my dexterous tongue to reach back in my mouth, I discovered the cause of the bad taste, making a face when I realized what it was. The dust we had shaken loose with our ecstatic roaring had settled while we slept, and I had apparently breathed it in, leaving a layer of grime in my throat.
Walking over to the pool in the back of the cavern, my gait a little unsteady, I dipped my snout beneath the cool surface of the pool once more, drinking deep. The cold water cleared the grime from my throat and the last of the fog from my head. Then, feeling the dust that was caked onto my scales, I slid forward into the water, grinning from ear to ear as I dunked my body into the deep pool. I spent the next minute or so scrubbing the crevices of my body with my talons, cleaning the dust and the sticky residues of our interlude off in the water. When my head broke the surface of the pool once more, I felt loads better, awake and invigorated. But, as I floated there near the surface, I suddenly shivered in pleasure. The feeling of the cold water soaking between my scales was so luxurious that I didn't want to get out just yet. Instead, I ducked my head under the water once again and swam around a little, exploring what was actually another, lower cavern that must have filled with water at some point, the hanging formations of fluted stone looking so strange under the water. When I came back up to the surface, I paused just under the water, only my nostrils and eyes breaking the surface. From that position, I discovered that I was being watched. My mate was curled up on the edge of the pool, lounging on her belly like she was sunbathing, a broad smile on her face.
"Having fun?" She questioned and I grinned, floating over to the side of the pool like an alligator lying in wait for prey. When my love leaned over to get a closer look at what I was doing, I suddenly pounced, lunging out of the pool in a spray of water. The dragoness gasped in surprise as I tackled her backward, landing on her back. With her body pinned beneath me, I growled playfully and nuzzled her chest and throat, the cold water dripping from my body onto hers. Giggling, Scarlon licked the top of my head and I climbed off of her, allowing her to get back up. "I will take that as a yes."
Grinning at her in confirmation, I shook myself, spraying water droplets all over the place. My mate glared at me in mock annoyance, the water leaving dark speckles in the dust that had settled on her. When I was reasonably dry, she slipped past me, sliding into the pool herself. I watched her admiringly as she washed herself, her scaly hide glittering in the light once more. She didn't swim around in the pool like I had when she was done, instead coming over to the edge and resting her elbows on it, looking across the cavern to the area that had been melted smooth by our fiery breath, the surface reflecting the light like a mirror.
"Next time we do that, we should do it outside." She commented, and I smiled once more. "I don't think the cavern could stand much more punishment."
"Agreed." I said, watching as she crawled from the pool, lying out on the smooth stone to dry off. After a few moments, she looked back over at me.
"You have a question, don't you?" She asked and I nodded. I had been having too much fun the day before to really think about it, but a thought had been growing in my mind all morning as I pondered what Pyre had said about magic.
"Yesterday, you said that magic takes energy to use." I began and she nodded for me to continue. "So I would imagine that every being has a limited amount of power that they can use without exhausting themselves totally."
"That is true, even for us." She explained, toying with a pebble with her claws. "But no being has the strength of a dragon. Even the weakest of our kind can easily out match a human."
"Are there ways to increase your limits?" I asked and she sighed.
"A few." She replied. "But they tend to have side effects, effects that far outweigh the benefits."
"Good to know. I was just curious." I said, then let out a sigh of my own. "Well Pyre, my love, as much as I would like to remain here with you for an eternity, I will have to return home eventually, especially since, as you have said, there are many other dragons waiting to be awakened."
"I know." She confirmed, smiling over at me as she divined the question I wanted answered. "Originally, the plan was that the first new dragon, that is to say, you, was to seek out the other descendants of our kind and then bring them back to me so I could awaken them. But I don't think that the elders expected that we would become mates instead."
"I want you to come with me." I said, frowning. "I can't bear the thought of leaving you."
"Don't be silly Alabaster," she said, a grin coming to her lips. A moment later, her beautiful form shimmered, shrinking to one that was much smaller, and lacking the prominent features of our species. Instead, all of a sudden, I was looking at a human girl about my age, her shoulder length hair strawberry blonde and her body drop-dead gorgeous. "You won't have to." My jaw must have dropped open in surprise, because she grinned, examining her nude form for a few moments before nodding her satisfaction. "Will this do?"
"Do? Love, if you were any more beautiful, people wouldn't believe you were human." I replied, already gathering the magic that flowed in my body and concentrating it into the task of returning to my original form. When I was a human again, I examined my old body with disappointment. Even though my strength and power was unchanged, my human form now felt so limited, fundamentally wrong. "Not that I am complaining about that, mind you."
"You're a sweetheart." She commented, giving me a quick kiss before waving a hand through the air, summoning clothing out of nowhere. She chose garments much like to the ones I had been wearing when I arrived, though shaped to accommodate her more feminine attributes. While she was getting dressed, I headed over to the entrance of the cavern and retrieved my own clothes, reluctantly dressing in them once more. It was only then, as I was clothing myself properly once again that I discovered the rents my claws had made in my T-shirt. "Well, that is a shame, I liked that shirt."
"So use your magic to fix it." My mate replied, buttoning her tan cargo shorts closed. "I know you can do it."
While she finished putting on her clothes, I worked on fixing the shirt. It was more difficult than I thought it would be. Simply commanding it to be fixed didn't do anything other than make the cloth fibers wriggle feebly at the edges of the garment, a rather creepy image. Apparently, fixing something was more complicated than just willing it to be fixed. Biting my lip in thought, I instead commanded the fibers at the ends of the tears to reattach themselves, sliding the edges of the tear between my thumb and pointer finger. The fibers reformed one by one, and before long, it was as good as new, though it was a bizarre sight to see individual cloth fibers tearing in reverse. When the shirt was back on, I clipped the equipment belt back around my waist and finally slung the backpack back on my shoulders. My mate was already commanding the hidden door to give way when I finished and I followed her out into the glorious sunshine of a golden summer afternoon. I really wasn't sure whether it was the same day as when I had first taken on my true form or the day after, but, standing before the beautiful vista with my mate made it seem somehow unimportant. And finally, sharing a last grin with Pyre, we finally headed back down the mountain and eastward, towards my home. As we walked together, my mind was already composing the story I was going to write about all this, a grin steadily forming on my lips at the thought...
***
Juno walked through the halls of the research facility once more; his jaw set hard, the only outward sign of the indignant anger that filled his heart. This was the second time in as many weeks that he had been called into the lab by his brother and he resented being summoned as if he was errant dog. Juno had never shared his brother's passion for the ancient profession of their family. Hunting dragons had never held much appeal for him. But, he was bound by the oath his family had taken, to hunt them, even though they hadn't been seen in millennia and the strong sense of honor and duty that made him who he was kept him coming at his brother's call. All of the other families that made up the ancient brotherhood of dragon hunters had long since reneged on the oath, leaving the brotherhood behind in favor of other pursuits. But his family had not, because, as his father had explained when Juno was a child, they had known that the only way that magic could still exist in the world would be if the dragons still existed somewhere as well. And so, his family had remained vigilant for all these generations, watchful for any sign, passing down the secret traditions from father to son, mother to daughter, each successive generation renewing the oath, carrying the ancient mark of the brotherhood upon their forearms. When he had been ready, he had been honored to take the oath, but that didn't mean he enjoyed being at the beck and call of his more fanatical brother.
Stepping up to the laboratory's door, he again waited for the airlock to cycle him through its chamber, trying to retain his composure. When he entered the lab, he found to his surprise, his brother wasn't staring fixedly at the map of the world with its twinkling lights as he always had been since they had gotten the facility set up. Instead, he was sitting at a computer terminal, engrossed in reading something that Juno couldn't make out from the doorway. Walking over behind his brother and looking over his shoulder, he paused suddenly, swallowing the question he had been about to ask. Displayed on the screen was a few paragraphs of text, but it was the heading at the top of the window that caught Juno's attention. The heading proclaimed the text to be a part of a popular literary site for the Furry community, a group that the brothers had always had mixed feelings about, since they knew that it is actually possible to change one's shape, if one knew enough about magic that is.
"Jason, would you mind explaining why you are reading that?" Juno asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Juno, this is the reason I called you in here today." His brother replied, pointing to a paragraph midway down the page. "Read this."
"Alright..." Juno said, scanning the page without real interest. Suddenly, as the words sank in, he stopped and started over, reading the story more carefully. "What the hell?"
"I know." Jason said, smiling in triumph. "It can't be a coincidence that this author knows exactly how someone can access magic, and more, knows so much detail about the true history of this world."
"Do you know who wrote this?" Juno asked, amazement starting to overwhelm his anger, and his brother's manic look faded somewhat.
"That is the problem." Jason answered, shaking his head. "I can't tell who this actually is without an IP trace and you know I won't get one of those without solid proof."
"Well, can you at least tell what region it came from?" His brother asked and Jason nodded. "Where is it then?"
"That is one bit of good news. According to this, this author lives in our region." Jason answered, his eyes gleaming...
***
Pushing open the door with one hand, I allowed my mate to proceed me into the dojo, smiling as she passed me. I don't think I had stopped smiling at all in the two weeks since I had come out of the wilderness in the company of my mate. Introducing her to my family had been interesting, considering that we had to make up a reason for how close our relationship was. Our story had been that we had been secretly dating for months and I had wanted to wait a while before having her meet my parents. It wasn't a bad story, considering that I still hadn't told them about what she and I really were. I was going to wait on that until she had settled more fully into the modern world. I had been surprised to learn from Scarlon that both of my parents were of dragon bloodlines, which may have gone a long way towards explaining how I had ended up with such talent with magic. But, despite the importance of the task I had been assigned, when I had finished writing the new story about what had happened on that trip to the mountains, I had returned to my usual routine. It just didn't feel right yet to go searching for others of my kind.
Summer was actually a very busy time around the dojo, summer vacation being the time of year when parents were trying to get their kids out of the house, many of them deciding that the martial arts would be a good activity for them to get into. As a result, myself and the other black belts my age or older spent most of our afternoons at the school, teaching class after class. It was true that maybe one in ten of the kids who started in the summer would continue after it, the remaining ten percent was enough of an incentive to make us try our best to get them interested. Curious about just what the training was like that the ancient dragon elders had created, my mate had insisted on coming along today to watch, which I didn't mind at all. Every moment I could spend with her was a precious thing to me. When I followed my mate into the school, I found my master waiting.
"Master Juno," I said, bowing deeply at the waist, a mark of respect that he returned. "Allow me to introduce my girlfriend, Sarah." Juno smiled and took Scarlon's hand, giving the back of it a kiss like an old world gentleman. My mate had decided on Sarah as a name to use in her human form, and I had to admit, she did look like a Sarah.
"I am honored to meet you, young lady." He said, then glanced at the clock on the wall. "You're just in time. We have a half hour before the first class gets here. Get suited and we can spar."
"Yes sir." I replied and headed to the men's locker room. Juno and I had a closer relationship than just master and student, though I wouldn't go so far as to call him my friend. When I had been an underbelt, as we called non-black belts, he had recognized my natural talent and had invited me to special, more advanced classes, so that by the time I reached the year long black belt training cycle, I had already learned a lot of black belt material. It took me only a few minutes to dress in my uniform, and when I was done, I headed out onto the mats, receiving a kiss for luck from my mate as I passed her. Juno waited until I took up my usual place across the ring from him before coming to attention. We bowed as one to each other and then set into our fighting stances.
"Standard rules, sir?" I asked and he shook his head, making me grin. Standard rules meant that we would follow standard tournament rules in the match. They were designed to civilize combat and keep the combatants from hurting each other. Master Juno detested them and I had to agree with him. I had first heard his explanation for his dislike when I was a red belt, the first of the advanced ranks. He had told me that the standard rules were a foolish invention because not only did they impose civilization on something that was, by definition, uncivilized, but they also taught students to instinctually hold back in practical situations when their skills would actually be needed, which often resulted in them getting hurt. "No rules then?"
"Only one." He replied and we both grinned.
Juno had created an unofficial club of students who had the right instincts, and the right level of skill, to be taught how to fight with one rule. That rule was 'Don't intentionally kill your opponent'. In these matches, matches that were usually fought after normal business hours for obvious reasons, any technique was considered legal, and any target was up for grabs. There was sort of an unspoken agreement not to do lasting damage, like breaking bones and so on, but accidents did happen on occasion. It was as close to real fighting as you could get. Despite its dangers, I had been hooked on it from the moment I had fought my first match. Of course, Master Juno, being a life-long practitioner of our style, hadn't lost a match in many years, at least to the best of my knowledge. But all the same, I loved to fight him. It was the ultimate test of skill, something from which I had learned a great deal over the years. And he had told me on several occasions that I came the closest to beating him of all the students he had ever had. But today was going to be interesting. Today, I lacked the weaknesses I had before. Today, I wasn't a human.
Juno struck first, a lightning swift side kick with his leading leg lancing towards my head. I easily moved out of the way of the strike, one arm already moving to push his leg away, and I realized at once how much I had changed. In the past, such a move would have stood a good chance of hitting me, only my practiced instincts allowing me to react in time. But this time, my master seemed to be moving almost in slow motion, so slow that I could have taken my time to counter him. But as my push deflected his leg around to the side, he turned with the momentum of my shove, his back leg coming up in a roundhouse kick that aimed for my floating ribs, followed up almost instantly with a swift one-two combination of punches aimed at my solar plexus. I caught the round kick with my forearm, then parried both punches, waiting for an opening in which I could reply. Juno never remained still for any amount of time, striking again and again in a never ending assault, trying to work past my defenses, his usual manner of fighting. In the matches of the past, I would have been hit at least four or five times by now, but this time, my defense was perfect, the master making no headway. No technique came close to connecting with its target, and I felt as if I could see what was going to come next before the last technique was complete. Then I saw it, a break in his defenses when he tried a reverse hook-kick, the spinning technique meant to hit the back of my head with his heel. For a brief second, his back would be turned, a defenseless target.
Before the dragon in me had awoken, the spin would have been much too fast for me to connect with him, but now it was all too easy. As he started to turn, I jumped forward, my back leg coming down on the small of his back in a sidekick, the force of the strike throwing him forward. Anyone else would have landed on his chin, becoming a perfect target for a follow up strike, but Juno wasn't a Master for nothing. As the force of my kick launched him forward, he rolled, opening the distance between us and coming back up onto his feet in an instant. But even as he turned to face me, I went on the offensive, raining techniques on him from every angle. But even as my defense had been perfect and my offense just as relentless as his, so too was he the picture of perfection. Every move I made was blocked, every technique failing to connect, his movements and instincts as fast as mine. Then, as I swept my right leg high in a crescent kick, he suddenly darted inside my guard, snapping a quick kick at my supporting leg, sending me tumbling backward as I unbalanced. As I had been trained to do, I rolled back in a somersault as I toppled over and sprang back onto my feet, still facing him.
This time, Juno didn't attack right away. Instead he held back out of reach of my legs, circling me like a shark circles its next meal. Sweat had beaded up on his brow, but he wasn't even breathing hard, his eyes cool, calculating, as he examined me. Then, as we circled, our attention focused on each other, I detected a slight change in his stance, a slight squaring up of his shoulders and then, he waded in once more, throwing American kick boxing techniques at me in addition to our usual style. But I was ready for it, parrying the quick jabs and hooks, avoiding his kicks as much as possible instead of blocking them. Then, he brought his leg down in the hard vertical stroke aptly named an ax kick. But instead of skipping back to avoid it as he expected, I crossed my arms at the wrist and caught his ankle in the crux, delivering a thrust kick with my back leg to his chest. Used by police and military units to break open locked doors, the kick was just as effective against a human, at least, usually it was.
But Juno twisted his torso so it was in profile to me, my foot sliding around on his uniform, the momentum drawing me closer. As I came within reach, he flicked his wrist forward, the back of his fingernails going for my eyes. Though it didn't do any actual damage, the strange blow did exactly what it was supposed to, my eyes clouding as they watered. Ducking on instinct alone, I barely avoided his other hand as he launched an elbow strike at my temple. Spinning away from him, I blinked away the tears that had collected in my eyes, realizing he had caught me out again with a change in tactics. Smiling at him, I changed my stance a little as if I was going to use the same style he was, a style from Southeast Asia called Muay Thai. We circled each other once more, each considering what to do next. Already this fight had carried on longer than any other had, Juno usually having landed a devastating blow by now. Even he seemed surprised by my sudden increase in skill, but he grinned all the same, seeming to relish the challenge. But I was done letting him control the fight. Shifting my weight onto my right leg, I telegraphed a kick coming from the other direction, something I knew he would react to. But when he tried to preempt my move with a sidekick designed to interrupt my own technique, I caught his leg with my hand and twisted it high, sweeping his other leg, dumping him onto his back.
Never releasing my hold on his leg, I followed him down, curling my left leg around his right, immobilizing it and then twisting his left arm into a figure four arm lock. Juno tensed up his arm, trying to resist the pressure that I was forcing on his elbow joint, but Master or not, he could not match the strength of a dragon. Finally, after a few moments of struggling against my grip, he slapped the mat with his free hand. I released him on instinct, scooting back to give him room to get up. Slapping the mat like that in a regular Judo or ground fighting match signaled that I had won the fall, but I remembered too late that this wasn't a regular match. Twisting up into a crouch with the speed of striking snake, Juno lunged at me, intending to go for a pin and lock of his own. Fortunately for me, I was already in the process of standing up and I caught his lunge easily, rolling back onto my shoulder and pushing my foot into his gut, using his own momentum to throw him end over end.
Scrambling quickly to my feet, I turned to face my Master once more. But when we faced each once more, I found that a startling change had come over his face. His eyes were suddenly as cold as ice, and his jaw was set in fury. But far more worrisome was the fact that he now held an oak bo staff in one hand, holding the six foot shaft out to one side. Technically, such a weapon was allowed in this kind of fight, but we never used them, mostly because it was practically impossible not to cause lasting harm with each strike. Of course, even in human form, a dragon's body was harder than steel, so the wooden staff wouldn't hurt me. But therein lay the problem. If I allowed him to hit me, he would know something was up and I would have to explain how I hadn't been hurt. Glancing around quickly for a solution, I tapped into the magic that lay within me, letting it spread throughout my body. With a loud cry, Juno swung the staff at the level of my shoulder, the point of the weapon moving like lightning, obviously intending to disable my arm at the least, which would end the fight. But with magic coursing through my sinews, I moved with almost superhuman speed, diving to the side and rolling up to my feet near the wall that held racked weapons. Seizing a pair of oak tonfa from their places, weapons that were basically an eighteen inch pole with a handle sticking out at a right angle near one end, not unlike a police baton, I whirled to face him, finding his eyes still narrowed in anger, though a smile was on his face.
With the shafts of the tonfa held back so that they protected my forearms, I waited for him to make his next move. Juno spun the staff in a butterfly movement, then suddenly flowed into a series of attacks, the tip of the staff arching towards my head, then my ribs, then my head again, then at my knee, the master fighting with both ends of the weapon. Each time, I caught the strike with the tonfa, producing a sharp crack as the weapons connected. Then, Juno stepped to the side, jabbing high and low with the point and I parried quickly, sweeping the staff to either side of my body. One of the great difficulties of fighting someone who used a staff was that deflecting the force of a strike, the easiest way to avoid being hit by the fast moving weapon, only added momentum to the other end, creating a natural second strike, producing an almost never ending attack. It took a great deal of control and concentration to keep it up for long. Of course, there was one big drawback to using a staff, a drawback I fully intended to exploit.
When the master paused for a moment in his attack, I lashed out with a round kick aimed at his head and he dodged back to avoid it, a predictable response. Using the time that bought me to my advantage, I flipped the tonfa in my left hand into the air, catching the long end of its shaft in my hand. As Juno stabbed forward with the staff, its long reach still capable of inflicting damage at this range, I caught the weapon where the handle met the shaft of my tonfa, then quickly raised my hand upward at a sharp angle. The momentum of Juno's strike forced the staff to keep coming forward, meaning that he couldn't use the other end to strike at my exposed ribs. Before he could react, I stepped in close, flicking my right wrist so the shaft of the tonfa smacked hard into his ribs, the sudden pain making him release his weapon so he could hop backward. Letting the staff fall to the floor, I darted forward, jabbing both weapons into his gut three more times and he stumbled backward a few steps, going down to one knee. As I started to close with him once more, intending to continue my attack, he held up a hand in a warding gesture.
"Enough!!" he called and I paused, stepping back into ready position, alert for any more tricks. Juno sucked in several deep, panting breaths, his other arm held protectively against his stomach, looking down at the mats before raising his gaze back to my eyes. "Enough. I yield the match."
Thunderous applause greeted the announcement and I looked around, bewildered, finding that we suddenly had an audience. We appeared to have completely lost track of time during the match, because the students for the first class of the day were standing on the edge of the mats along with several groups of parents and my mate. All of them were applauding our performance and many had looks of amazement on their faces, cheering us. When I looked back at Master Juno, he was getting back up to his feet, rubbing his stomach where I had struck him, looking at me with a thoughtful expression on his face. Then, finally, he smiled and stood at attention. When I mirrored his stance, crossing the tonfa in an X across my chest, we bowed to one another. Then we returned our weapons to the racks where we had found them and headed back off the mats towards the locker rooms to clean up a little before we had to come out and teach.
"That was impressive." My mate said as I passed her, but she gave me a very significant glance that held no praise in it. I started to ask her what was wrong, but she gave a slight shake of her head. She wanted to wait until we were alone to talk about it and though I was curious, I would comply. I spent the rest of the day teaching students along with the other instructors and Juno's attitude seemed no different towards me than it had been before our match, though, as I played the fight back through my mind during the day, something about it began to bother me. I should have been elated; having finally won against him, but all I felt was concern. Finally, when the day of classes was over and we were driving home, I started to ask what Pyre had wanted to talk about. But before I could get a single syllable out, she spoke.
"Master Juno can use magic." She stated without preamble.
"What?" I asked, certain I didn't hear her properly. She repeated the statement and I shook my head. "No way."
"Didn't you think it was strange that he could match a dragon's speed?" She asked, then continued before I could reply. "I am sorry Argil, but there is only one way a human can move like that."
"Magic." I replied, nodding in sudden understanding. That was what had to have been bothering me since the match. "What does that mean if he can use it? I thought magic had died out in humans."
"So did I. It might be nothing." Pyre stated, looking back out of the window in thought, staring at the houses that were passing by. "It could be nothing more than the talent coming back with our return. Or, it might be something much worse."
"Like what?" I asked. Scarlon shook her head before speaking again, as if the thought was too terrible to speak aloud.
"Like I said, I could be nothing. It probably is nothing." She said again, "But, in the future, you will have to be much more careful around him."