FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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CHAPTER 34

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Cairn ran me through the basic motions of lun'nath, explaining what I should try and do with my nen with each motion. Explaining the timing and effects that each move had and got me to link them together, calling out various combinations and getting me to complete them in precise well timed moves.

It was quite difficult getting the timing right. He explained that for lun'nath timing was not as essential as the effect, but for run'nath timing was even more important. I had to have the timing down in order to synchronise with the others.

Once he was happy that I had the basic moves and timings down, we attempted to do some basic run'nath moves. Which basically consisted of drawing and moving half a dozen fire spirits together. It was difficult, I won't deny that. If our timings were off even a little then the fire spirits would not move in time with one another, or sometimes they would snuff out of existence, unable to be maintain their form under the conflicting nen.

What made it even more difficult was that I had to stifle my own nen, force it to be more equal in strength to Cairn's or, as the first few attempts proved, we would be unable to properly synchronise as my nen would weaken Cairn's to the point that he wasn't able to manipulate the fire spirits since my nen took control being that much stronger.

I don't know if he realised this or not, but I could see it happening and from that point tried to use only the minimum amount to complete each exercise. It made things much harder for me while focusing on keeping my nen to such a level as well as getting the moves and timings right.

I saw Stern watching me from a distance every now and again, but I tried to ignore him, I had enough to worry about trying to get this right without worrying about him watching me. After a few hours Cairn and I stopped for a break, I sat on the ground to rest.

"You're doing well." Cairn praised. "You learn fast."

"It's not that different from some of my training with Aceh." I admitted.

I was feeling a little worn out from having to concentrate so much.

"A little practise and I'm sure you'll have it down in no time." He smirked. "Once we catch our breath I'll show you a few more move sets."

"That's fine." I sighed and lay back on the soft dirt.

Cairn had shown me a lot the last while. Push, pull, flow, force, fortify, wall, feed, grab, wrap, and ground were all different forms of control. Ground being the most useful one to beginners like myself, a neutral stance, useful if you wanted to take a moment to collect yourself if you felt yourself losing control. It could also be used during group run'nath, allowing you to pause and not ruin the bend, allowing the rest of the group to continue unhindered.

The individual moves were not that hard, simple in many respects, and it was surprising how effective they were at allowing you to focus your nen. While I could will my nen to do just about anything I wanted it to, lun'nath* just made it easier to focus my nen and made it that much faster to achieve the desired results. Proper breathing was key, but that wasn't much different from my training with Aceh, who had drilled the breathing exercises into me early on.

"Come on, lets get back to it!" Cairn gave me a playful punch in the arm after a while.

"Sure." I smiled, pushing myself up off the ground.

************

"Fuck!" I cursed as I messed up the sequence, the fire spirit snuffing out of existence in a burst of smoke and embers.

I was still struggling to suppress my nen enough to do sequences of run'nath with Cairn. If I suppressed it too much I essentially choked the flames out of existence, if I used too much nen Cairn's nen would be weakened and that meant that I either had to take full control or risk our attempted move to fail.

We had been practising for hours now, it was well after lunch if the hunger I was feeling was any indication. I was tired, mentally and physically, hungry, frustrated and getting annoyed with each failure.

"It's okay." Cairn assured me. "We'll just keep practising till we get it right."

"If you can't get a simple sequence like that right by now then you can't be as good as Kassius insisted you are." Stern said suddenly, appearing from nowhere. "Run'nath requires you to sync with multiple dragons, but you can't even sync with one. I must say I am disappointed."

He seemed to be enjoying the fact I was failing so miserably.

"I'm trying my best!" I scowled, suppressing a growl.

"Your best is obviously not good enough! A warrior can't simply try, they must succeed!" He glared at me. "Your technique is good but your nen is completely insufficient! I have no idea why Kassius insisted you were good enough to join the adepts!"

"If I may interject!"

We all turned to see Kassius who was approaching us. I couldn't help but smile at his timely intervention.

"Kassius."

"Stern."

The two dragons acknowledged one another.

"I must question your decision to insist on including him on joining the adepts." Stern asked with a less than friendly tone. "He isn't able to complete a simple run'nath!"

"I wonder why you have him attempting run'nath at all." Kassius countered calmly.

I noticed that most of the dragons within ear shot were now watching the exchange between the two warlords.

"Why wouldn't I have him practice?"

"No offence to Malakye, but he is not suited to run'nath." Kassius explained. "Lun'nath would certainly help him, but run'nath is just asking for trouble."

"I can't say I've seen anything to suggest that he is as strong as you suggested. I have trouble believing that he could take on three trained adepts by himself and win!" Stern scoffed, referring to the fight that resulted in the hearing I had recently had to go through.

"Sir!" Cairn blurted, stepping forward and bowing his head in respect for his superior officer. "If I may, I believe that Malakye is stronger than you suggest. I have sparred with him and he strong, sir."

Stern stared at Cairn for a few moments before looking at me.

"Well then, why don't we have him prove himself then?"

"Sir?"

"If you insist he is as strong as Warlord Loki says he is, then have him prove it to me and everyone else here!" Stern elaborated.

"Sir!"

Cairn turned to face me. I looked to Kassius who smiled and nodded, obviously giving his own silent agreement to Sterns suggestion.

"You can do this!" Cairn smiled. "I know you can!"

"What the hell am I going to do?" I whispered.

"Do that thing with the fire!" Cairn said excitedly. "Like when we first met! That'll show him what your capable of."

It took me a moment to realise he was talking about what I had done with the brazier. Our conversation was cut short when Kassius approached us. Cairn bowed his head and moved to the side.

"Don't worry Malakye. You can do this."

"I believe you, but I'm not sure what I need to do."

"You simply need to show your ability. Your friend has faith in you." He smiled glancing at Cairn. "Just do what feels natural, don't worry about a thing. All you are doing is showing Stern what both Cairn and I already know."

"Okay." I sighed, taking deep breath to steady my nerves.

Once everyone moved away, giving me space to preform for them I turned to face the brazier. I was completely aware of the two dozen sets of eyes that were watching me now, nearly every dragon in the place watching to see what I would do. I looked to Kassius for a little bit of reassurance before taking a deep breath and drawing on my nen.

I figured I may as well use some of the lun'nath techniques to my advantage, to show that I was capable of using them. I bent my knees, spread my foot paws apart and pressed the palms of my paws together slipping into a 'ground' stance, and drew on the hotter nen from my gut, the familiar feeling of warmth of the fire affinity washing over me as it flowed outwards through my body.

Once I was ready, my bubble of nen fully formed, I stepped forward with my right foot paw and slowly pushed my right paw outwards towards the brazier, exhaling as I did, pushing my fire nen towards the brazier with a 'flow' stance.

I allowed the nen to flow deep into the brazier, filling every space between the burning coals and wrapping itself around the fire in its entirety, before rotating my paw in a grabbing gesture and pushed my right foot-paw back so my left was in front, now with a successful 'grab' stance completed I prepared for the 'pull'.

If I managed to do this correctly I would do what I had done the night I had sparred with Cairn. I inhaled slowly and stepped back, my right foot-paw was once again the forward one, and pulled my outstretched paw in the grabbing position towards my chest, completing the 'pull'.

I felt a slight resistance at first, the fire not wanting to leave the safety of the brazier, but a moment later all resistance ceased and I pulled the fire away, leaving nothing but smouldering coals behind.

There was a collective gasp from the crowd, but I tried to ignore it and focus on what I was doing. I relaxed my stance, Kassius had said to do what ever felt natural so I would do so, and from this point I'd do it naturally, without the assistance of lun'nath.

The mass of floating flames in front of me was quite large, so to begin with simple motions of my paws I spilt it into three equal sizes, and allowed the large fire spirits to encircle me. Now that I had them, I needed to do something with them. That's when I saw the large rock formation about twelve yards away.

I lined up the first fire spirit and punched towards the rock formation, pushing a burst of air through the spirit, my wind nen carried it at speed towards the rocks. The attack struck, burst into a cloud of embers, and scorched the rocks black. I repeated the same move for the second and third fire spirits.

Once the last fire spirit had hit the rock, I inhaled deeply, allowing my nen to retreat back within my body and exhaled before turning to face Kassius and Stern. Kassius had a knowing smile plastered on his muzzle while Stern's expression was one of mild surprise, and maybe a little annoyance.

"Well?" Kassius asked, breaking the silence. I certainly heard the silent 'I told you so'.

"Fine." Stern grunted, obviously not happy. "You were right." He huffed.

************

"So how did your training with the adepts go yesterday?" Xavier asked.

"Okay." I smiled.

Coincidentally Xavier had decided to start teaching me to utilise lun'nath, and was pleased to know that I had already learned the basics. I had forgone training with the adepts today to train with him, before resuming my lessons to read and write with Vizimaar today.

Being able to train with the adepts meant I could go there whenever I had time, and didn't have to worry about being late. Which meant arranging times to train with Xavier was going to be a whole lot easier. I had spent so much time learning to fire bend I was almost finding it easier than wind bending, almost. Truthfully fire bending took a fair amount of focus, while wind bending just felt easier overall. I guess that shouldn't be so surprising, it was my primary affinity.

"Who ever taught you lun'nath was a good teacher." He commented. "Keep your elbow bent slightly." He added, tapping my right elbow as I was doing a dry run through the motions for Xavier to see.

"Cairn." I replied to the question he hadn't asked. "His name was Cairn."

"I know Cairn." He mused. "Known him all my life."

"Really?"

"Oh yes. He is a bit older than me, but I used to play with his brother when I was young, he would join in too. He was always very funny." He smiled, his eyes losing their focus on me for a couple of seconds as memories of his past came to the surface. "That'll do for now."

I stopped running through the motions and followed Xavier as he walked into the next chamber of our secret training area. In here there were a number of wooden posts driven into the ground, forming a large circle, each of the posts had bells hanging from them.

"Today we will focus on focusing your attacks." He explained stepping between two posts and into the center of the circle. "While powerful, your attacks lack force." He explained. "To maximise the force of your attacks you must focus your nen to strike as small an area as possible.

He quickly let of a burst of nen, thrusting his paw towards one of the posts, his nen striking the post with an audible thud and causing the bells to jingle. I didn't fail to notice that the bells on the posts on either side didn't make any noise.

"Practise, use lun'nath to help if you need to. Once you get used to doing it with lun'nath you can then learn to do it without it." He smiled. Once you can make the bells ring on each post individually we will move on the the next lesson."

I stopped myself from sighing, there was eighteen pillars, this was going to take a while. I nodded and moved to take my position in the center of the circle while he moved to the outside. Taking the time to practise the series of lun'nath moves, ground, grab, wrap and force, I would be using before drawing on my nen.

My first two attempts failed miserably, the attack struck its intended target, the bells from two posts on either side rang out audibly from the fall out of my attack. I paced from side to side a little, running over what I needed to do in my head before resuming. Xavier said nothing, he just let me be. He was a very hands off teacher. Sometimes that did help.

I tried again and again and again. But each time the bells rang out loudly. I had lost count of the failed attempts long before I yelled out my frustration and let out a burst of nen that made eight of the posts bells ring out.

"There is no need to lose your temper."

"Sorry." I sighed, pinching my brow and forcing myself to calm. "I know what I need to do... I just can't do it! I haven't been able to make less than five posts ring!"

"You know what you need to do?" He asked.

"Yes? Why?"

"Then why are you failing?"

"What? Because I can't!" I snapped. "What kind of question is that?"

My irritation grew when he chuckled slightly.

"Sometimes Malakye, less is more."

"Less is more?" I repeated. He simply nodded. "Okay... so less is more!" I repeated sceptically.

I began to pace round the ring of posts, trying to work out my growing frustration. Repeating the phrase 'less is more' over and over again in my head, hoping that I could work out what it was he meant.

But doing that only seemed to make my irritation grow as it made no sense to me. I lashed out with a swipe at on of the bells hanging on a nearby post, slapping it side ways, and watched it wave from side to side, jingling loudly in the silence.

I cocked my head as if an idea had struck me, but it was sitting just out of my grasp. Niggling at the back of my mind as if teasing me with the answer but refusing to give it to me.

"Less is more." I repeated.

Once again I swiped a paw at the bell and again watch it sway back and forth as it jingled. I turned to Xavier who looked at me with a knowing smile as he say atop one of the posts. The idea still out of my reach but felt like it was slowly coming closer to the answer.

I struck out at the bell again, but this time with a wide, arm stretching swipe. This time not only did the bell wave from side to side, but a couple of the other bells rattled slightly. The other thing that I noticed was that the bell that I had struck, despite putting more force into the strike, actually slowed to a stop a little faster than the previous time. Only swinging from side to side three times.

To confirm this observation I smacked it with a simple flick of my wrist, watched it swing from side to side. Once, twice and thrice before coming to a stop.

"Less is more."

I moved back to the center of the ring to begin again. This time I used less nen in my attempt, about half as much, and fired it at the post. There was still and audible thwack as it hit the post, and this time only the bells on the posts either side rattled.

"You learn quickly." Xavier grinned.

"Less is more." I smiled.

"Yes indeed. Keep practising."

I understood his lesson now. I was always using full power, compensating skill for power. I know from training with Aceh skill was more important than strength or speed. I needed a better control over my power, to be able to manipulate it, to get better at controlling it. To be able to control it to the point as if it was one of my own limbs.

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"Again!" Stern bellowed.

The group of adepts he was coaching immediately restarting the run'nath. The ten adepts completely synchronised in their motions. They were not actually using their nen, it was simply drills rather than live practise. It was still impressive to watch.

"So your back." Hazani snorted.

I turned to face him. He wasn't here the last time I was here, I hadn't seen him since my first time here a week ago. Between training with Aceh and Xavier and my reading lessons with young Vizimaar Valelor this was my third time joining them for training.

He was flanked by two of the dragons that I recognised from the gauntlet match he had tricked me into. They both seemed a little nervous unlike Hazani who appeared as arrogant as ever.

"You got something to say?" I asked.

"Just that I can't believe they let someone like you in here!" He spat.

"Like me?"

"Fucking wolf!" He snarled. "You're no dragon! You're an abomination! I bet your mother couldn't wait to spread her legs!"

I could take his bullshit about me and my wolven heritage. But no-one would talk about my mother!

I snarled and got up close and personal, shoving him back and pressing my muzzle as close to his as I could stand. He snarled back at me and we stared into each others eyes. There was some shouting round us and we were quickly surrounded and pulled apart by adepts who had rushed in to prevent the fight that they all thought was about to break out.

"What the fuck is going on?" A voice boomed.

I turned to see the owner of the voice and was a little surprised, and admittedly awe struck, when I realised that the voice belonged to Tau'ruc himself. Winner of the last tournament. Not only had he won the combat tournament, but came second in the bending tournament. The match had been close, and many believed that the only reason he lost was because of the injuries he suffered the previous day.

I looked to Hazani who was still giving me glares but was obviously not going to speak up. If he wasn't going to talk then I guess I was going to have to. I pulled free of the paws still holding me, holding my paws up to show that I wasn't going to attack.

"Just having a friendly conversation." I said.

Tau'ruc chuckled and stepped closer.

"Didn't look that friendly from where I was standing." He looked me up and down. "So you're Malakye huh?" He chuckled again before taking a couple of steps towards Hazani. "There seems to be a problem here. I don't like problems."

Hazani glared defiantly at Tau'ruc. After a couple of moments their eye lock ceased and Tau'ruc turned back to me.

"We have a way to deal with problems here." He grinned and the other adepts murmured in approval. "So I think it's time for a su'crar!" The adepts around us cheered and began to clap.

"Su'crar?" I asked.

"Kinyar su'crar.*" Tau'ruc grinned. "Challenge for the body. Winner owns the other for a day. By the end of the day, what ever arguments were between you will be redundant."

"Owns the other?" I asked. "You mean..."

"Oh yeah." Tau'ruc chuckled again. "Winner takes 'all'."

There was no mistaking what he meant from his tone. Sex. Basically a slave. Yeah I can see how any previous issues would be redundant after an entire day of servitude. Probably create some new problems while making the previous issues go away.

"So how about it?" I asked turning to face Hazani. "Fancy another ass kicking?"

"Hooo!" Tau'ruc grinned. "What is this? Something you not telling us Hazi?"

"Fuck you all!" Hazani snorted.

"Go on. Tell them how I kicked your ass! You and your buddies!"

"Well, well, well." Tau'ruc clapped his paws in amusement. "So little Hazi got his tail handed to him. Why did you not tell us? We could have used a good laugh!" The group of adepts chuckled at Hazani's embarrassment.

"So what's it going to be Hazi?" Tau'ruc asked. "You wanna fight him again? Risk that sweet ass of yours for a chance to reclaim your honour?"

Hazani looked furious, his anger barely restrained and at the point of boiling over and losing control. He looked from Tau'ruc to me a few times, wrestling with his emotions. Eventually he looked at the floor. A sure sign of submission. Despite his anger and urge to fight, he obviously had his doubts at being able to beat me.

"That's what I thought." Tau'ruc snorted disappointedly. Poking a finger into Hazani's chest. "Until your willing to fight him I don't want any more of your shit! If I so much as see you looking at him in the wrong way I will kick your ass personally!"

I felt a surge of happiness in my chest that someone like Tau'ruc was doing this. This guy was one of the best warriors Zangar had to offer and here he was, someone who had never met me, standing up for me like I was friend.

As much respect as I held towards him before, now he was pretty much my own personal hero. But despite the fact he was sticking up for me I needed to be seen as my own dragon. Otherwise I might be seen as weak. That's all it would take for someone to try and take advantage of me in some way.

"Thanks. But I can handle him myself." I said sternly.

"I'm sure you can." Tau'ruc grinned, looking over his shoulder at me. He turned his attention back to Hazani. "Now, unless you want my foot-paw up your ass I suggest you make yourself scarce for a while."

Hazani snorted before turning and pushing his way free of the small gathering around us. Everyone watched him leave before speaking. Most of the group went about their business, leaving now that the spectacle was over.

Tau'ruc walked up to me, smirking in a cocky way that reminded me a lot of Jason in some ways. Yeah, Tau'ruc was cocky. He was strong and he knew it.

Now that I was this close to him I could finally get a good look at him. He wore a set of leather armour, very well made and maintained from the look of of it. The dark leather armour had steel chain-mail embedded in it in the chest, the silvery metal was quite stunning looking. His armour looked more like an ornamental piece than a practical everyday item. He was around my height, and from how his armour was filled out, very well built.

"Well then Malakye, it's nice to finally meet you." He grinned with a big toothy grin.

He placed his paw on his chest and bowed slightly. I was a little surprised by the formal greeting but quickly returned the gesture.

"You too."

"I've been hearing a lot of good things about you." He grinned. He always seemed to be grinning. It was a little unnerving but it did make him damn good looking as well. "I missed your fight with my cousin, wish I had seen it. He's been singing your praises ever since."

"That's nice of him." I chuckled. "Considering he beat my ass pretty badly."

We both shared a chuckle.

"Gracious in defeat. I like that." He grinned. We began to walk, Tau'ruc putting an arm over my shoulders. "But stories can be embellished. I'd like to see it for myself."

"You want to fight me?"

"Just a friendly spar." He grinned. "See what the son of Lord Anaris is capable of."

I looked around us, half a dozen of the dragons who had broken up the fight between myself and Hazani were following us slowly. The fact that they were following and Tau'ruc's seemingly overly friendly nature was making something in the back of my mind uneasy.

Back with the wolves this would be the precursor to an ambush. I knew I could be a little paranoid when it came to things like this. I tried to ignore the unsettling feeling, I needed to try and make some friends among the warrior caste.

"I WOULD LIKE YOUR ATTENTION!"

Everyone turned to the booming voice. I was surprised to see Aceh standing next to Stern and Kassius by the entrance. What was Aceh doing here? Everyone in the arena slowly made their way towards the three of them.

"Now that we have your attention we have an announcement to make." Stern declared as he looked out over the crowd.

I met Aceh's gaze. His stoic expression betraying nothing of what was going on here.

"Who's the cat?" Tau'ruc muttered.

"Aceh." I replied.

"Oh yeah... I heard you arrived with some furs."

"Lord Anaris has enlisted the help of our guest here." Stern said gesturing to Aceh. "He will take on a number of warriors as students, to learn martial arts under his tutelage."

The announcement sent a ripple of whispers through the crowd of dragons.

"And why would we want him to teach us?" A warrior from the crowd asked.

"No one is required to learn from him." Stern replied bluntly. "He will choose his students from those who are willing to learn. Lord Anaris is convinced of his skill. In fact he already teaches Lord Anaris's son."

The dragons around me looked at me for a moment or two before turning their attention back to Stern.

"He doesn't look that tough!" Some yelled.

"Yeah! Why would we learn from someone we can beat ourselves?"

"Watch your words!" Stern snapped.

Aceh stepped forward at that moment, motioning Stern to calm as he looked out over the crowd.

"I am Aceh Jaras Amur. son of Vallius Demetri Amur, grandson of Machali Amur." Aceh declared. It was the first time that I had ever heard him introduce himself so formally. "I will pick only those who show the discipline, fortitude and determination that is required to succeed at this training. If anyone here needs me to prove my worth as a teacher then I leave an open offer of Kinyar to any who wish to test my skill!"

An open offer of Kinyar? That was insane! Each and every dragon here could challenge him, one after the other! I had little doubt that Aceh could handle himself, even against someone of Tau'ruc's calibre, but could he keep doing so against a constant stream of opponents?

"Well then I'll take you on pussy cat!" A voice yelled out.

The crowd parted and a lone dragon stepped forward. I recognised him from the tournament. He lost to Tau'ruc in the semi-finals, but had given him a hell of a fight. If I remembered right his name was... Barnus. Yes that was his name.

He was smaller than most other dragons, his body lean but toned with muscle. He relied on speed over brute force and had an unorthodox fighting style.

The crowd stepped back and formed a rough circle around Aceh and Barnus. Aceh stood calmly staring at the smaller dragon. He was a good foot smaller than Aceh. He was quite lively, hopping from foot-paw to foot-paw, rolling his shoulders and throwing a few shadow punches as he pumped himself up for the coming fight.

"Come on then pussy cat!" Barnus grinned. His nen flaring up as he prepared to attack.

Aceh simply stared at him for a few moments more before casually stepping into a fighting stance; the sixth stance of Tigers Palm. With a flick of his paw he gestured for Barnus to attack.

"Without nen he doesn't stand a chance!" Tau'ruc declared knowingly. His arms folded across his chest and a smug smile gracing his muzzle.

"Don't count him out." I retorted. Silently hoping that Aceh was doing the right thing by not using his own nen.

Tau'ruc simply snorted in amusement at my comment, but nothing more was said as Barnus launched himself towards Aceh.

Without any further prompting Barnus launched himself towards Aceh. Barnus was fast, and in hindsight maybe he was too fast for his own good. By the time he saw Aceh's attack coming it was already too late.

He had charged headlong at Aceh, a lesson I had learned early on was a very, very bad idea. Aceh's left leg rose high into the air, in a surprising display of flexibility, to the point he was nearly doing vertical splits, before he brought it down across Barnus's shoulder. That was enough to force Barnus to one knee, his muzzle twisting in pain, but he never got to make a chance to make more than a grunt as Aceh's right knee came up and smashed him in the muzzle.

Barnus fell backwards, Aceh's entire bodyweight supported on his shoulder, and Aceh gracefully and calmly stepped over him as his left foot-paw met with the ground again.

Everyone in the crowd was dumbstruck at the display. Aceh turned to regard the fallen dragon, who was barely conscious at this point. The fact that he had been using nen was probably the only reason he hadn't suffered much worse than a bloodied snout.

"You bastard!" A voice snarled.

Another dragon forced his way free of the crowd and made a beeline for Aceh who simply stared at him with an unnerving silence.

The dragon was another that I recognised from the tournament. He had fought Mantou in the semi-final. His name was Karnal. And he was the biggest dragon besides my father that I had ever seen. His huge frame loaded with muscles that you could see flex with every simple movement, and right now he was stomping towards Aceh with his fist pulled back.

His first punch missed by a mile, Aceh weaving his body round past the punch, Karnal stumbled forwards a few steps before he caught his balance and turned to face Aceh again.

Aceh once again calmly slipped into a fighting stance, this time it was the second stance. Aceh didn't have to wait long for Karnal to attack again. At least Karnal wasn't charging Aceh recklessly, but he telegraphed his attacks long before he even made them. He obviously relied on his superior strength to win fights. That would not work against someone like Aceh.

Aceh weaved his body away from each of nen enhanced punches, still not using his own nen to defend himself, doing nothing more than jabbing the giant dragon in the side each time his punch missed him.

After a while Karnal stopped trying to hit Aceh and instead tried to grab his evasive opponent. Aceh once again was too fast for him. He dodged the grasping paws, batted them away or slipped away like a greased eel.

Aceh was toying with the giant dragon. It was obvious to everyone. But he didn't toy with him for too long. After about a minute of his passive fighting Aceh went on the offensive. He grabbed the wrist of his opponent, after another poorly thrown punch, twisted the extended arm and with a swift kick to the back of the knee forced his opponent down and held him there; using nothing more than a single paw to hold his wrist.

"Your strength means nothing if you can't even hit your opponent." Aceh said bluntly.

"FUCK YOU!" Karnal snarled.

I knew that Karnal was going to regret disrespecting Aceh after it was already obvious to everyone that he had lost this fight. Aceh would not tolerate disrespect like that.

Aceh dragged him up to both foot-paws, using nothing more than the leverage he had on his arm. Spun him round and delivered a single, powerful kick to his chest. Karnal stumbled backwards but to my surprise didn't fall. Aceh didn't miss a beat though. He chased after the stumbling dragon and laid into him with a flurry of powerful blows to his torso, ending the combo with a move I had never seen him use before. He took a long step forwards, thrusting both fists into the chest of his opponent. The force of the blow literally blew the much larger dragon off his foot-paws and sent him crashing to the ground.

Now both Karnal and Barnus lay on the ground, each of them groaned in obvious pain.

The crowd remained silent, even as Aceh cast his gaze over us. His piercing blue eyes taking in every detail of everyone in the crowd.

"Damn! That cat it bad ass!" Tau'ruc chuckled.

"You want him to teach you to fight?" I asked. A swell of pride for my master in my chest.

"Hell no! I want to fight him!"

I looked at Tau'ruc open mawed and in shock. I didn't know what to say or do at that moment. Or the next moment when he pushed his way through the crowd towards Aceh.

"Well, well, well..." Tau'ruc sauntered out of the crowd and looked Aceh up and down.

Aceh turned to regard him with a calmness that betrayed no emotion. I knew that Aceh could hold his own, but could he beat Tau'ruc? He was essentially their best fighter, a strong warrior and powerful bender. I knew Aceh was a better fighter, but Tau'ruc's nen was on a whole other level compared to Aceh's.

"So the pussy cat's got some moves." He chuckled, an undeniable swagger in his walk. "Lets see what you've got!"

Tau'ruc raised his fists and drew on his nen. I knew immediately that he was only using a portion of his true power. But it was still powerful. His nen was heavy, it rippled with power as it coursed through his body.

Aceh didn't seemed phased at all, he simply slipped back into the second stance of Tiger's Palm. Fists raised and ready to fight. His demeanour unchanged. A calmness that seemed almost unnatural.

They both just stood there, each of them measuring the other. Aceh made the first move.

He struck with the speed and ferocity that I expected of him. He lashed out with powerful blows, dodged the counter attacks of Tau'ruc by weaving his body round the attacks before landing his own before Tau'ruc could even try and pull his arm back from the failed attacks.

Tau'ruc was impressive, his attacks where fast, decisive and crisp. But despite all that he couldn't land a single blow on Aceh, who seemed to be able to predict his every move. Aceh landed blow after blow, but it seemed to have little effect on Tau'ruc.

Each powerful strike did little more than stun his opponent, his nen buffered the force of his attacks to the point that they had little more effect than hitting him with a pillow.

With a roar of frustrated aggression Tau'ruc charged forward, driving his shoulder into Aceh. Aceh was shoved back, regaining his balance in time to swerve his body away from the incoming punch of his opponent.

He grabbed Tau'ruc's extended arm, drove his knee into his stomach, struck him across the muzzle with a nasty looking elbow strike and grasped the back of his head, a moment later Tau'ruc was thrown onto the flat his back.

I couldn't help but let out a restrained cheer, impressed at how Aceh was beating Tau'ruc using nothing more than technique.

Tau'ruc got up quickly. His rage now obvious as his entire body radiated his anger at being embarrassed by the strange tiger. Nearly everyone in the crowd took a step back as Tau'ruc unleashed his full power.

It was hard to breath as the crushing wave of power washed over me. The pressure was insane! It felt like someone was standing on my chest! I drew on my own nen and felt relief as it seemed to buffer the effects of Tau'ruc's nen.

At this point Aceh drew on his own nen. It was almost undetectable over constant ebb of Tau'ruc's nen. Tau'ruc stomped forward and lashed out with a series of punches. Even in his current state of anger Tau'ruc's technique was as crisp as it was before. He seemed to be moving faster as well! I could feel how he shifted his nen throughout his body as he switched between offence and defence as effortlessly as breathing.

I was so lost in his technique that I lost track of the fight until there was a mighty cheer from the crowd as Tau'ruc finally landed a punch. Aceh had managed to raise his arms, reinforcing his defence with his own nen, but the force of the blow sent him skidding back. The following blow sent him sprawling across the ground.

This was what I was afraid of. Tau'ruc's nen was just too powerful!

I breathed a sigh of relief as Aceh stood up, seemingly no worse for wear, but his calm demeanour was now gone. He scowled at Tau'ruc before retaking a fighting stance. One that I had never seen before!

He crouched low, his arms curling outward towards his opponent.

Tau'ruc snorted in amusement and went on the attack. Aceh launched himself at Tau'ruc and the two clashed. Aceh managed to narrowly avoid Tau'ruc's fist from hitting him in the muzzle by inches, while landing his own punch to his opponents muzzle.

Tau'ruc was momentarily stunned and Aceh didn't waste the opportunity. He grabbed Tau'ruc by the throat, swept his foot-paw from under him, and threw him to the ground. As Tau'ruc began scramble back up to a vertical base, Aceh leapt through the air and struck him in the muzzle with a devastating round house kick which sent the dragon sprawling across the ground.

"YOU MOTHER FUCKER!!!" Tau'ruc yelled.

I felt his nen shift from himself to the water that lay a few yards behind him. This was no longer a spar. Tau'ruc was going to try and kill Aceh!

Before I could react several jets of water shot forwards, the streams aimed at Aceh. Aceh back flipped away, dodging the first two jets of water and leapt to the side to avoid the third. With a motion of his paws Tau'ruc summoned another jet of water, this one breaking apart and freezing as it flew through the air, icicles becoming spiked projectiles.

"STOP!" I heard someone yell, but it was already too late. Over a dozen projectiles were already mere yards away from Aceh.

My body reacted to the situation even though my mind was still in shock at how quickly this had escalated from a spar to a death match!

I shoved two dragons in my way aside and sprinted towards Aceh, throwing myself in the path of the projectiles that threatened his very life. I spread my wings in the hope of trying to shield Aceh from any further attacks.

Using my nen bubble I could see the attacks cutting through the air towards me. I closed my eyes and waited for them to hit when I felt a burst of nen fire out, washing over me and then the incoming attacks. I gasped as a cold wetness splashed across me. The burst of nen reverting the water back to it's unfrozen state.

I looked in the direction of the source of the burst. It was Stern. He had fired the nen. And by doing so he had probably just saved my life. Not only that but his intervention seemed to have snapped Tau'ruc out of his state of aggression, his nen already receding as Stern stormed his way towards him with a less than amused look.

Everyone watched in silence as the two met. Tau'ruc looked guilty but defiant. Staring Stern in the eye as the Warlord glared at him in seething anger. Tau'ruc looked away, breaking the silent battle of wills and Stern turned to regard Aceh.

"I apologise." He said bluntly before turning back to Tau'ruc. "Come with me... now!" He growled. Leading Tau'ruc towards the exit of the arena.

I simply stood there and watched until a paw came to rest on my now wet shoulder. It was Aceh. He looked me in the eye with a smile. A silent thank you. I had thrown myself in front of the attack that threatened to wound if not kill him. But what else could I have done? I couldn't have just stood there and watched Aceh get hurt; or worse killed!

"That was a very brave thing you did Malakye." Kassius said with a smile.

"I wasn't going to let him hurt Aceh!"

"Thank you." Aceh said with a smile. Bowing his head with his paws together.

"The rest of you! Resume your training!" Kassius ordered to the crowd watching.

As the crowd dispersed I noticed two dragons who were actually coming closer. It was Barnus and Karnal. They both wore expressions of humility to go with they physically hurting bodies. They stood side by side and looked to Aceh who regarded them with his usual stoic expression. I won't deny I was surprised when they both dropped to the knees, their gaze firmly locked on the ground.

"We wish to apologise." Barnus blurted suddenly. "And if you allow it... to become your students as well!"

Karnal grunted and nodded his agreement with the statement.

I looked to Aceh who's expression had not changed at all. He simply regarded them silently, his piercing eyes taking in everything about them. The silence went unbroken for a long time before Aceh finally responded.

"Training will not be easy. It will be tough, brutal and require discipline!" Aceh stated with authority. "You both show tenacity in the way you fight. But lack skill and discipline to be effective fighters! Relying purely on your strength and speed to over come your opponent. I will teach you discipline! You will learn technique! And by doing so you will become skilled fighters!"

"YES!" They both shouted in unison.

"Then from now on I will be your master. Now, go rest! We will begin your training tomorrow!"

"Yes Master!" They both responded in perfect unison before standing up. They gave a bow of respect to Aceh before turning to leave.

"You're taking on more students?" I asked.

"Hmmm." Aceh nodded. Smiling. "Are you worried?"

"Worried?"

"That I won't have time to train you?"

"No!" I chuckled. "Just a little surprised is all. I mean... if you're taking on students does that mean you're not planning on leaving?"

He scowled slightly.

"We all spoke the other night." He said. "We agreed that it is dangerous to leave while the wolves as being so aggressive. Your father tells us that the scouts they sent out confirm that war has already broken out. Caravans and travellers are constantly being attacked in draconian lands."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes. I have heard the same reports." Kassius confirmed.

"So we have agreed that staying put for a while, until the fighting dies down, would be best for all of us." Aceh explained. "Your father asked if I would be interested in training any of the warriors here while we stay."

"How many are you going to train?" I asked curiously.

"A dozen at most."

"Wow..." I grinned.

It was going to be strange to train with others under Aceh. Maybe now I wouldn't get my tail handed to me quite so often during sparring lessons.