Hundreds of black knights, male villagers, and little boys are forming a circle in the middle of the village. I stand on one side of the circle and the Sorcerer stands on the other. Megan still is sleeping on the bed in General Boris’s home. Timmy and Spotty are guarding her. They are nervous. Spotty is shaking a little and so is Timmy. They are worried that I might not live through another battle.

I won a battle in the Training Ground a few days ago. I don’t know how I beat Bearon. I hope that whatever power I felt in the Training Ground will come back in this battle. I’m feeling the knots tying in my stomach. I try to be as confident as I can. Maybe I will see what else I am capable of. So far I have turned into a Dragon and I have super strength.

The Sorcerer stares at me. He has an evil grin but I am not afraid. I growl and stare back at him.

The Sorcerer raises his right hand in the air. “There is only one rule!” shouts the Sorcerer.

“Why do you want to battle me?” I ask.

The Sorcerer folds his arms and clears his throat. “I want to see what else you’re capable of,” he answers.

I point at myself. “But why me?” I ask.

The Sorcerer laughs. “Rumor has spread of your arrival and what you did in the Training Ground. I want to see what you are capable of. Now, we only have one rule for this duel,” answers the Sorcerer.

I nod. “Is it, win whatever it takes? Because that seems obvious?” I ask.

The Sorcerer nods. “And how do you know that?” he asks.

I lift my shoulders. I point at the Sorcerer and growl again. The Sorcerer stands still and keeps grinning at me.

I point at myself. “When I win, I’m going to take Megan, Timmy, and Spotty and leave. And no more sacrifices, ever!” I shout.

The Sorcerer raises his right hand. “All right, but if I win, then you will be slain and so will your girlfriend,” he says.

I blush and shake my head. “She’s not my girlfriend. She’s just a friend, but not my girlfriend,” I say.

The Sorcerer strokes his beard. He seems confused.

I shake my head again. “Never mind!” I stop shaking. “When do we start?” I ask.

The Sorcerer puts his hands down. “Brace yourself, we’re about to start…now,” he whispers.

Even though he is whispering I can hear because of my Dragon hearing. I stand my ground. The Sorcerer stands his ground. We wait. I curl my fingers and shake my fists. The Sorcerer raises his left eyebrow. He snaps his fingers.

I hear rumbling behind me. I turn around and I see a rock flying toward me. I breathe in as deep as I can and blow out my fire. The blue fire hits the flying rock and blasts it to pieces. The Sorcerer seems surprised and starts to sweat.

I turn around. The Sorcerer snaps his fingers again. This time there are thousands of rocks flying toward me. I duck and breathe out a blue fire shield to protect myself from the rocks. The rocks hit the shield and explode. I am surrounded by the shield of fire. I jump into the air. The Sorcerer stares at me and lifts his right hand. The fire has faded so I blow again as I fly around.

The Sorcerer puts his hand down. “How much do you know about combat?” he asks me.

I lift my shoulders. I fold my arms and growl at the Sorcerer. I can hear the villagers muttering. They seem a bit nervous about me winning this duel.

“I don’t know anything about combat,” I say.

The Sorcerer puts his fists in front of him. “Then show me what skills you have with brute strength,” he says.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do next. But I have to face the Sorcerer. Megan’s life depends on it. I very feel nervous as I fly toward the Sorcerer. I am ready to punch him in the face. The Sorcerer punches me in the stomach.

I fall on my legs. I feel weak. I grunt and pant in pain. The Sorcerer grabs my neck and starts to choke me. I grab the sorcerer's hands and try to get them off my neck but the Sorcerer is too strong. He lifts me and I struggle. I can barely breathe. The Sorcerer shakes his head. He stares into my eyes. He pulls a knife out of his robe. I can feel the knife pressing on my belly.

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I shut my eyes. “I won’t let you win!” I grunt.

The Sorcerer laughs evilly. I cannot breathe or talk. I grit my teeth and wait for the knife to stab me.

“You are pathetic, just like you’re grandfather,” whispers the Sorcerer.

I gasp. I open my eyes. I wrap my flexible tail around the Sorcerer. He starts to grunt and wiggle but I squeeze him so tight that he cannot move.

“Let go!” shouts the Sorcerer.

I bite his left hand that holds the knife. The Sorcerer screams and drops the knife.

I growl. “What do you know about my grandfather?” I ask.

The Sorcerer struggles even more and I hold on as tight as I can. “Talk!” I shout.

“Get off!” shouts the Sorcerer.

“Not until you tell me how what you know about my grandfather!” I shout.

I smell smoke. It isn’t coming from me or anything. I realize the smell of smoke is coming from the Sorcerer’s breath. I see some smoke coming out of his mouth. I thought only Dragons have fire breath.

“You’re a Dragon?” I ask.

The Sorcerer stops struggling and grins.

He chuckles evilly. “You’re clever, but not strong,” answers the Sorcerer.

The Sorcerer grabs my tail and throws me on the ground. I land on my belly. The impact is painful. I see General Boris walking towards me.

“Excuse me, move it, General Boris coming through.” He passes a couple of the black knights.

There are too many in his way.

The General sighs. “Make way for the General!” he shouts.

The knights make a path for him. General Boris runs towards the Sorcerer and me. General Boris notices the Sorcerer picking up his knife. I jump into the air and kick the knife out of his hand. I tackle the Sorcerer to the ground and hold his arms. General Boris takes out his sword with an intense look on his face. The other knights seem nervous.

“What is he doing?” asks one of the black knights.

No one answers. General Boris’s sword touches my back. I gasp and widen my eyes.

General Boris pants angrily at me. “I hate to do this to you, but let him go,” he says.

The Sorcerer grins at me. His eyes turn to General Boris. “What are you waiting for? Kill him! Kill him now! He’s a Dragon! Kill him!” shouts the Sorcerer.

General Boris hesitates and his arm that is holding the sword shakes.

“Kill him now before he sends the Dark Dragon!” shouts the Sorcerer.

General Boris turns to The Sorcerer. General Boris looks lost and confused.

“Kill him now! Before he summons the Dark Dragon! We must kill all Dragons that enter our Kingdom! Now kill him!” shouts the Sorcerer.

“Who is this Dark Dragon?” I ask General Boris.

“He’s a dark blue Dragon. He’s the one who killed most of our females,” answers General Boris.

“So that explains why there are no women or girls here. But you said most of them. Where are the rest?” I ask.

General Boris looks guilty. “We sacrificed the rest to the Dark Dragon. This is not the proper time to talk about this. Just let the Sorcerer go. Please,” he says.

His sword presses on my back. “Wait! Just one more question!” I shout.

General Boris’s sword backs away. “What is it?” he asks.

“Have you seen other Dragons besides this dark Dragon that’s been hurting your people?” I ask the general.

He thinks for a moment. “No, no we have not. On the day of the last sacrifice, which was my daughter, I cut the Dark Dragon’s right arm. But that did not stop him from killing my daughter. We have not seen any other Dragons. Why do you ask Daniel?” he asks.

I sigh. “Move your sword away from me and I can prove that I am not an evil Dragon working for this Dark Dragon,” I say.

General Boris slowly moves his sword. “All right, prove it, no tricks,” he says.

I let go of the Sorcerer and blow fire on his legs. The Sorcerer screams in pain and falls to the ground. The fire is spreading all over his black robe.

General Boris’s eyes fill with rage. “What are you doing?!” he shouts.

I suddenly feel weak and tired. I fall to the ground on my back. General Boris is ready to stab me. I am too weak to move. I close my eyes and wait for him to strike.

“Wait!” a boy shouts from the crowd.

General Boris turns to the boy. “He just burned our Sorcerer. I thought this Dragon was different. Guess I was wrong,” says General Boris.

General Boris presses the tip of his sword on my chest. I can’t breathe. The little boy runs to General Boris and grabs his arms to try and stop him.

“Let go boy! This Dragon is trying to kill the Sorcerer! He is our only protection from the Dark Dragon!” shouts General Boris.

“But look at the Sorcerer!” shouts the boy.

General Boris turns around. He cannot believe what he sees. I turn my head to look at the Sorcerer. The Sorcerer is surrounded by the fire. His robe burns into ashes. However, his skin is not burning at all, even though the fire is surrounding his body. The Sorcerer does not scream in pain. He just lets out a deep growling noise. General Boris slowly moves his sword off my chest.

I gasp for air. “See. His skin is not burning.” I say.

Boris nods. “I noticed that,” he says.

I slowly get up on my legs. All of the men in the circle begin to move away from the Sorcerer. The Sorcerer continues growling.

I stare at the fire around the Sorcerer. I look up at Boris. “I know that noise,” says Boris.

“You do?” I ask.

Boris nods. “Yes. That is the noise of the dark Dragon,” he says.

The sorcerer growling slowly turns to laugh. “Ha! You’re all fools!” he shouts in a deep rough voice.

The Sorcerer points at me. “It took him one day to figure out that I am the dark Dragon! All those years you never guessed the truth! Pathetic!” shouts the Sorcerer.

His skin starts to change to a dark blue color and his head begins to grow horns. His fingers change into talons, wings grow out of his back, and the fire grows bigger around him. The fire makes a shield around the Sorcerer.

The fire shield grows bigger and bigger. Then the shield slowly shrinks to reveal the Sorcerer’s true form. He is bigger than a house.

His dark Dragon form has dark blue scales, his wings are huge, his tail is very long, he has spikes from his head to his tail, his eyes are red, his body is buff, and his teeth are sharp. He stands on four legs and sticks out his mighty Dragon chest.

He growls and turns to me and grins. I stare at his red eyes.