Lyra opened her eyes in a cold sweat and looked out her window. The sun was just starting to peek up over the horizon.

Thank goodness. She had been tossing and turning all night long and felt exhausted. Sleep was slow to find her and yet somehow incredibly quick to leave. All she could think of was Kai’s words. She wasn’t aware that the dragon corps’s selection process was so dangerous. That was most likely why her mother had been so adamant in keeping her home all these years, but now that the time was upon her, was she really ready? Probably not, but she’d rather take the risk than sit around at home feeling like she didn’t have a purpose.

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she quickly got dressed. She packed the night before, so she didn’t have to worry about that. It’s better to pack light, just a couple changes of clothes and some dried food. The trek to the capital would be arduous, she didn’t want to bring any more than necessary. She was of course bringing her weapons with her, if this was going to be as dangerous as everybody said she wasn’t going to be caught dead without them.

Running downstairs she was surprised to see her mother asleep at the kitchen table. Had she been there all night? She must have stayed up all night worrying about the events today would bring. Lyra walked up to her mother then hesitated a little before reaching out and softly shaking her awake.

“Hey,” she whispered, “I’m about to head out, I just wanted to say goodbye.”

She almost hoped her mom would stay asleep, it would definitely save her from an awkward goodbye. No such luck however, her mom was quickly shrugging off the effects of her own restless night.

“Thanks for waking me, I wanted to give you something before you left.”

“You didn’t have to get me anything, besides I have to pack really light…” she trailed off awkwardly as her mom walked out of the kitchen. She came back a moment later with a long object wrapped in cloth. When she got closer Lyra could see a hilt sticking out. She gently took the wrapped sword from her mother’s hands and took off the covering. The scabbard was simple and unadorned , nothing surprising here. Her father always told her that a fancy scabbard was just an invitation to be stolen from. The hilt however, did have a dragon head on it, and the crossguard looked like dragon wings. It was beautiful.

When she unsheathed the sword she was stunned. The blade was flawless. It shimmered with a lustrous sheen when she held it up to the early morning sunlight. The metal was unblemished from hilt to tip. She held the sword out in front of her, stunned at the incredible balance it had. It was light, but sturdy. She felt as if the sword was made just for her.

“How…?” she turned to her mother, unable to finish her question.

“Your father had this made for you, he planned on giving it to you on your birthday.” She smiled sadly, “When we decided that you should join the dragon corps, we realized we would need to give this to you a little early. He had the blacksmith enchant the blade with earth magic while he was making it. This sword will never break, not unless it is placed under incredible duress. I’m no mage, but there is probably enough magic in here to stop even a dragon breaking this.”

Now that she mentioned it, Lyra could feel it. She was not going to be trained as a mage, but even she could feel the soft humming of the earth magic if she paid attention. She was speechless, this was an incredible gift, one that she was sure her parents could not afford.

“And don’t you worry about how much it cost,” her mother said, reading her mind. “If that thing keeps you alive, it will be worth every copper.” There was a tear starting to form in her mother’s eye now. Lyra felt a lump forming in her throat. She didn’t know what to say, her mother rarely showed emotion and never cried this much in front of her. The last twenty four hours had been rough for her, clearly things were just a little too much.

Adaline cleared her throat and quickly wiped her eyes, “Your father should be at the city center with the recruiter, he’ll be taking the names of all the people that are joining up. You should be able to say your goodbyes.”

Lyra put the sword back in its scabbard and strapped it to her back, tightening straps where needed. It really was an incredible sword, definitely much better than the practice swords she had used while training with the guards. Lyra finished adjusting her sword and looked at her mother for a moment, right before suddenly rushing forward to hug her.

Adaline stood stunned for a second, then slowly wrapped her arms around Lyra. Lyra did not have a history of showing much affection and Adaline wasn’t sure how to take it. However, she was a mom and she knew when her daughter needed support.

“You go show those people who’s boss” she said softly, “You won’t be the strongest out there, but you will be the fiercest, I’d bet the house on that.” Another tear rolled down her cheek.

Lyra pushed back and straightened her back. She wiped the tears that were threatening to roll down her cheeks and swallowed the lump forming in her throat.

“I’ll come home when I can, I promise.” She turned on her heel and strode out the door, knowing that if she stayed a moment longer she would probably burst into tears. Why does she have these emotions? She hated how weak she felt, there was no point in crying. Time to move on, there was work to be done.

Lyra felt anxiety building in her stomach as she walked away. Was she really doing this? She was more excited than she had ever been in her life, but also terrified at the same time. When she made it to the city center she could see that she was not the only one leaving for the capital. Word had spread fast in the last twelve hours or so and there looked to be about six individuals ranging from ages sixteen to mid twenties that were already signed up, with more in line. She could tell that there were many younger boys that were begging their parents for the chance to go, but the recruiting officer was very strict about only taking volunteers sixteen and up. The age of adulthood was nineteen, and if you were younger than that then you had to have permission to leave. Lyra, at eighteen, was the same age as the majority of people leaving today.

There were mostly boys signing up, there was only one other girl with Lyra. Not surprising as this is the most dangerous and difficult job there is. Which was why the king could only ask for volunteers.

She spent a minute looking at all the hustle and bustle around her, trying to take it all in. Many tears were being shed, from friends, family, and lovers. Finally she spotted her dad, in the center of the square next to the recruiter. He was writing names down on a list as people came up. Occasionally he would kick people out of the line as youth that were too young came up without parents permission, but for the most part he just observed and took names.

Lyra jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Kai’s grinning face right behind her.

“What are you doing here?” she finally spit out when she got over her initial surprise. “You’re supposed to be at home!”

“Yeah, well I was never that good at being obedient now was I?” He feigned nonchalance as he threw an arm around her shoulder and began to walk with her to the center of the square while he continued speaking, “Being your best friend, I have decided to take it upon myself to keep you safe while you make many more stupid decisions. Which is why I will be joining you.”

Truth be told, Lyra was incredibly grateful to have her friend at her side. She was terrified at the prospects of what the upcoming days would hold, and she felt much more relieved knowing that at least she had Kai with her. She was, however, concerned that Kai would be putting himself in harm's way.

She shoved him playfully as they walked, “I’m glad you’ll be coming along, even though your swordsmanship could use a lot of work. You should have been doing that instead of spending all your time with that bow of yours.”

This brought out a chuckle from Kai, “Well, I guess you’ll have to work extra hard then to keep an eye on me. Actually you should be thanking me. Keeping me safe is going to take extra work since I’m terrible with a sword, so you’ll be getting tons of practice!”

“You’re not that bad with a sword,” Lyra scoffed. It was true, he wasn’t that bad. He wasn’t that great either. His talents lay more with a bow, and there were not many people who could shoot like Kai.

“How are you planning on leaving anyway? Your parents definitely aren’t giving you permission, I know that for sure.”

“You’re right,” he chuckled “but luckily they don’t have to. I’m older than you, remember?” He shot her a wink. “I’m old enough that I don’t need their permission. It will probably break their hearts, but I think it's time I did something for myself, don’t you?” He fell silent then, and Lyra did not press him. She could tell that he had thought a lot about this and talking about it would make the fresh wounds even more painful.

“Well what do we have here?” They finally reached Larun, Lyra’s father, with the recruiter.

“Kai Flint sir, reporting for duty.” Kai gave Larun a respectful nod.

“Lyra Channel, reporting for duty.” Lyra repeated, stepping up next to Kai.

“Captain,” Larun said, writing the names on the board, “these will be the finest fighters you will ever have the privilege of training. Don’t go easy on them though, they’ll prove themselves without a doubt.” He quickly gave Lyra a hug, pulling her in close.

“Make me proud,” he whispered fiercely, “make the Channel name proud.” Stepping back swiftly, he gave Kai a firm handshake.

“And you watch out for her, you hear? Next time I see both of you, I want to hear stories of your adventures.” He gave them an almost sad smile, and then motioned for them to join the rest of the recruits.

The next hour passed in a blur. After the families and those rejected left the town square, the captain lined them all up. The captain was not an unattractive man. He looked to be in his early thirties with long black hair tied up behind his head in a sort of half bun, letting some of it hang down over his neck. He wore a practical uniform that looked very worn in. His captain’s insignia was on his left shoulder, a red dragon’s head.

“Listen up!” The captain spoke loudly, but not shouting. “My name is Captain Tempest. You may call me captain, Captain Tempest, or sir. I will call you whatever I want, because until we reach the capital you are nothing, understood?”

There were nervous nods all around, some looked as if they wanted to go home already. Tempest could probably see it in their eyes because he spoke again.

“There are about twenty of you here, the past few year's statistics tell us that two, maybe three of you will die on our way to the capital. I am giving you the chance to turn back now to go to your families. I will say this just once, there will be no shame in turning back if you go now.” He waited, after a few moments of silence he continued.

“Very well, now that’s out of the way we better get going. It is about a month's journey to the capital, and if we take the scenic route it will be even longer.” He chuckled to himself then said softly, “you better hope we don’t take the scenic route.” Louder he said, “Alright boys and girls! If you turn around, you will see our lovely Sergeant Ajax, he will lead you out of this wonderful place you call home and get us on the road.”

They all turned around and Lyra had to hold in a gasp. The sergeant had to be the biggest man she had ever seen. Ajax stood an entire head above the crowd and probably weighed as much as her and Kai together, but he looked like he was built from solid rock. He had a true greatsword strapped to his back. She doubted she could even hold the thing, nevermind swing it.

He gave the group a quick nod then turned around and walked off, motioning them to follow him.

“Doesn’t seem like much of a talker does he?” Lyra whispered to Kai. Lyra could tell this was going to be a long trek to the capital.

The weather began to cool off bit by bit as the days progressed. They were heading north to the city capital, Echelon. The days all felt more or less the same to Lyra. They would get up before dawn, eat a quick meal, pack up camp, then get back on the road. They would stop occasionally to do weapon training on the road, and always for an hour before bed. Captain Tempest was big on weapon training, his motto was ‘live by the sword and die by the sword.’ Which was always followed by, ‘you live longer if you know how to use a sword.’

Lyra wished she had spent more time trying to build muscle over the past few years. She was not the weakest one there, but definitely close to it. Luckily her new sword was light, the earth magic in it allowing it to be light yet still be incredibly strong. She was one of the best with a sword, she thanked her father and his guards for that. However, her whole body ached from the marching and even with a light sword she still felt as if her arms were going to fall off after swinging it around for an hour.

Kai was not that great with a sword. There were more than a few boys that had never really practiced with a sword, so he wasn’t alone. Lyra could tell that it bothered him a little when he was beaten over and over again by others in their group. Before going to bed, Lyra had started coaching him to help him progress faster. She was decent with a sword herself, and the extra time with Kai helped her improve.

Things stayed pretty consistent day by day as they traveled, and Lyra found herself wishing for something a little more exciting. Two weeks into their journey she got her wish.

They had been on the road for only a couple hours that day and the sun was still rising.

“Hold!” Tempest called out to the group.There was slight confusion as they stuttered to a stop. It was too early for lunch, what was going on?

“I want you all to carefully form a semi-circle around me, watch that you don’t mess up the tracks.”

The tracks? Lyra looked down at the dusty ground to see sets of footprints on the ground. Only these prints weren’t human. There were only three digits to a foot, and they looked as if they were tipped with claws. She formed a half ring around Tempest, careful not to disturb any of the tracks.

“Okay cadets, listen up. We’ve run across a band of kobolds.” He paused for a moment to let that sink in. “I’m assuming that none of you have ever come across kobolds, so let me debrief you. Kobolds are nasty looking creatures, distant cousins of dragons. They aren’t very large or strong, but they are fast. They have vicious teeth and whiplike tails, and claws too. Basically think of small dragon-like creatures that look similar to humans, any questions? No? Good, now let me tell you what we are going to do.” Lyra could tell that multiple people had questions, but Tempest did everything quickly and rarely paused for questions.

“Kobolds are usually in groups of fifteen to twenty. They hate sunlight and never come out during the day. We could find their den and wait for them to come out, or we could go flush them out. We are going to flush them out because waiting could be days or weeks, we don’t know how much food they have and it's best to catch them unaware while they’re sleeping. What do you want Skinny?”

The boy in question wasn’t actually called Skinny, but Tempest rarely called them by their names. The small looking boy lowered his hand nervously and said, “Do we need to confront them, sir? I thought that kobolds usually kept to themselves? And what if we are outnumbered?”

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Tempest nodded as if appreciating the question. “Yes they normally do keep to themselves, but being this close to a village is a problem. We are about a day’s march from the next small town, and we don’t need kobolds harassing or killing travelers and farmers. If for whatever reason they feel like they have a strong enough force, they will attack farmers in their own homes and take small children for food. As part of the dragon corps it is our job to solve these problems before they arise. And as far as being outnumbered, that won’t be a problem. They are not very strong and not great fighters, so they rely on overwhelming prey with their numbers. As long as you remain calm, we shouldn’t have any trouble. Anybody have a problem with that?”

A cold silence settled over the group as one by one they realized that the safety of other people were in their hands. The meaning of the dragon corps began to have a new meaning for Lyra, and she could tell others were having the same thoughts. This is what she was meant to do, protect those who can’t protect themselves. This thought gave her strength in the face of danger.

“Kobolds are sneaky, ruthless, and intelligent,” the captain continued. “If we storm them in their hideout there will definitely be traps, so we have to be prepared. I want all earth users to go with Sarge over there, you lot will be in charge of disarming traps. Everybody else, stay here with me and I’ll tell you the plan.”

“Three of you, that’s alright.” Sarge looked at the small group he had assembled around him. “Our job will be to pay very careful attention to the earth around us and make sure that we don’t stumble into any traps.”

Putting his hand to the ground he spoke softly, in his deep rumbling voice. “You feel that? Listen closely to the earth, see what is out there. We are in the hills right now, I sense a lot of soil near the top as well as some larger rocks out there. Some places have very little rock, some have lots. Others are made up of mostly clay. When we go into the kobolds’ den, if you sense anything out of the ordinary no matter how small, call out for us to stop. It could be the difference between life and death.”

There were somber nods all around, Lyra did not expect to be thrown into something like this so suddenly. Once everybody was ready, they rejoined groups. Captain Tempest quickly explained that earth users would be dispersed throughout their small force to make sure nobody set off any traps. All kobolds had at least two entrances to their den, so once they found one they would search until they found the other. Once they found it, they would split their forces and ambush the kobolds. There was talk of collapsing one or both tunnels, but kobolds are too crafty and they can dig well. If they weren’t completely sure that they had killed all the kobolds then none of them would be able to rest.

The day was approaching noon, there was no time like the present. Kobolds were mostly nocturnal creatures, so attacking during the day should give them a slight advantage. They quickly stopped for a small meal, Sarge had explained that fighting on an empty stomach was a sure way to get themselves killed, so once that was finished they began the search.

The tracks led them pretty close to the kobold den. The tracks suddenly disappeared from the road and it seemed as if the kobolds suddenly grew a brain and started hiding their tracks. The two groups split up then and started searching the hills on either side of the road. Sarge sped things up immensely by reaching out through the earth and finding out tunnels deep underground then following them to the source.

Lyra made sure she was with Kai’s group. Kai had strung his longbow and Lyra was immediately grateful for her friend’s presence. Kai was the best shot she had ever known, he rarely missed his target and with his power over fire it made his arrows even more deadly.

“Are you ready for this?” Kai said to her as she approached him.

“Am I? Don’t you mean, are you?” Lyra answered with a chuckle as she unsheathed her sword. “You know I’m ready for this.”

Kai nervously rubbed his bow, “Yeah, I don’t know if I am ready for this actually. What if we don’t make it? I’ve never been in an actual fight you know.”

Lyra smiled at him, “Yes I do know, I was the one that usually settled those fights for you if I remember correctly.” They shared a laugh at that. “Just pretend that you’re shooting targets hanging from tree branches, you never miss those.”

Kai gave her a grateful smile and checked his arrows again. It became a nervous habit at this point, but it was better for him to do something than go completely crazy with anxiety.

There was a wave of nervousness that passed through the group, the feelings that only come before a battle. The two groups were standing at opposite sides of a hill. The hill was large, more than two hundred paces across. The top rose high enough that the two groups weren’t able to see each other, and Lyra was confused at how they knew when the other group was going to attack.

The captain was with Lyra’s group while the sergeant was with the group on the other side of the hill. Lyra had a moment of doubt while waiting for the order to attack. What if Kai’s fears were right, and one of them died? She didn’t know if she could live without Kai, he had been there for her throughout her entire life. She glanced at him now nervously rubbing the grip of his bow with one thumb. Suddenly a small fireball flew into the air from the opposite side of the hill.

“That’s the signal,” Tempest said calmly, “let’s go.”

They rushed silently down the hole, with the captain leading the way. Lyra followed a few places behind, with her sword out in both hands and her senses reaching out through the rock. She didn’t forget what the sergeant told her about looking for traps, she kept her senses alert. They walked cautiously, but swiftly. Nothing leapt out at her as strange until they were a few dozen paces into the tunnel. Up ahead she felt something in the rock, she wasn’t sure what it was but she could just tell it was different, unnatural.

“Wait,” she hissed out, “there might be a trap up ahead.”

Tempest stopped immediately, lifting his arm out to stop anybody from stepping in front of him. His eyes were darting around like a fly, frantically trying to avoid the spider’s web.

He looked back, “Come on up here by me soldier, show me what you mean.”

Lyra stepped up hesitantly. “I’m not entirely sure, I just thought I felt something in the rock that wasn’t really supposed to be there.”

“Where? Quickly now, we don’t have much time. If the other group gets to the den before we do, they might be in serious trouble. Did you sense it in the ground, the wall? What stands out to you?”

Lyra closed her eyes and put her hand to the wall, feeling the sweet soft soil. There. She felt something, it was very close to the ground, but in the wall. “It’s nearly at ground level, but in the wall I think.”

Tempest’s quick eyes immediately spotted the problem with the guidance Lyra offered. Bending low he softly brushed away loose dirt that was hiding a trip wire. The wire was leading directly to a very small hook that was shoved into the wall. That is what Lyra had been sensing.

Tempest gave her a satisfied nod then said in a loud whisper, “Okay all, this here is a tripwire. We don’t know what it will do and we don’t have the time to disarm it. Make sure the person in front of you and behind you doesn’t touch it or we could all die a very fiery death. Watch each other’s backs, I’m counting on you.” He gave a quick smile, then turned back around to face Lyra.

“I’m going to stay in front, but I want you right behind me. If you feel anything else, especially footsteps, I want to know.”

He took off again with Lyra right on his heels. She was even more perceptive now, paying very close attention to the walls and the floor. She didn’t see any more traps in this tunnel, and this set off a small panic inside her. Are there traps that she isn’t seeing? Is she going to be the reason her entire group gets killed? She forced herself to snap out of it and focus on the task at hand.

They had been steadily going at a slight downwards slope this entire time, and the whole while Lyra could feel no movement from any kobolds. The tunnel took a gradual turn to the right, forcing their group to slow down in order to not be ambushed as they rounded the bend. Lyra noticed Tempest switching his sword to his left hand in order to not be at a disadvantage as they took the turn.

After a short while their tunnel opened into a decent sized cavern. One that Lyra didn’t think could have existed under these hills. Apparently they had gone lower than she realized, and also kobolds were better diggers than she would have thought.

Their small group looked around, taking stock of their surroundings. Tempest raised his hand into a fist above his head, which meant “look sharp”. It was one of the hand signs he taught them before they entered the tunnel. They all looked around, hoping to see a sign of their enemy. Lyra took a step to the side hoping to touch the side of the small cavern and reach out through the earth to try to sense any movement. She felt as well as heard a small crunch underneath her foot. Lifting her foot and looking down she saw small white bones, picked clean.

She stifled a small gasp as she stumbled to the wall closest to her as she tried to recover. Breathing hard she held onto her sword with one hand and touched the wall with her other. The cavern was larger than she thought, it was difficult with the very limited light they had from the fire users. She could tell the other group was a little farther away, down a tunnel across the room and heading their way. Where were the kobolds? Her reach was not very large unfortunately, and she struggled to push her mind out farther. There. Again she felt something. This time it was many claws digging into the earth, clinging to it hard. So they wouldn’t fall?

Lyra slowly looked up. The darkness hid the ceiling from her, but what she saw chilled her to the core. Many pairs of small red dots held her gaze, some of them blinking. She froze for a moment, her fear getting the best of her. Then breath filled her lungs as she called out loud.

“Enemy from above!”

Then all was chaos. An arrow whizzed past her and stuck in the wall with a thunk! Tempest called for lights and in a moment the ceiling was lit up by fire users. Lyra quickly dove for the safety of her squadmates, not wanting to let herself be an easy target.

With light in the room everybody could see. It was a large empty cavern, clearly dug out by the kobolds. With their advantage of darkness gone, the kobolds attacked. They were hanging from the ceiling, waiting to strike. The humans were outnumbered, but only barely. They desperately needed the other group to show up. The kobolds were short, only a few feet tall, and looked like a cross between a dragon, person, and lizard. They had tails and claws, and long snouts. Lyra even saw forked tongues flicking out of some of their mouths.

Most of them dropped from the ceiling when the small fires lit up the room. Some stayed, and Lyra noticed that those still hanging from the ceiling were archers. They started to fire on the humans as their comrades attacked with crude weapons. Most of them had rocks or clubs, one or two had rusty swords, but that was the extent of their weaponry.

“Archers!” Lyra heard Tempest’s voice above the din, “focus on the ceiling!”

Lyra saw Kai immediately whip his bow upwards and fire two arrows in quick succession, then watched as two kobolds fell down with arrows in their heads. Feeling a presence behind her she spun with her weapon at the ready.

A kobold leapt at her with both sets of claws spread out and aiming at her heart. As she spun around with her sword out, the creature’s leap carried it onto her sword. It was not very large, but the force of the leap nearly tore the sword out of her grasp. She fell backwards with the creature on top of her, it struggled weakly and took a few swipes at her with its claws, but within seconds it was dead. She was now covered in blood and shaking from adrenaline, but she was alive.

Rough hands dragged her to her feet. “Lyra! For all that’s holy, stay on your feet! You’re going to get yourself killed if you’re not careful.” Kai was already by her side, holding her steady while she recovered.

“Can you see Sergeant? Have the others gotten through their tunnel yet?” Lyra asked.

Kai raised his head to look over the fighting. “I don’t see them,” he reported. “But wait, no… that can’t be…” His face paled as he scanned the area. “The kobolds have reinforcements. They came from another tunnel, there are almost twice as many”

“Are you okay?” he asked, “we need to group up, we just got outnumbered.” Just then they heard Tempest’s voice rise above the noise.

“At my side! Blast it all, stay by me or die!”

Lyra found Tempest, he was impossible to miss. He was fighting with the spirit of three men. Wielding a sword in his right hand and a dagger in his left, he was a sight to see. There were other recruits around him, but they hesitated to intrude on his space. Nobody wanted to get in the way of a master at work. No matter how many kobolds surrounded him, he never got so much as a scratch. His control over wind allowed him to jump high over his opponents and cut them down as he fell. Parry, strike, one down. Dodge, strike, another down. Two quick stabs and two more fell. Lyra now understood why he was called ‘Tempest.’ He fought as if he was a storm, a storm of calm fury.

The rest of their group rallied behind him, putting their backs to a wall of dirt. A fire user threw balls of flame at the kobolds to little effect, they seemed to laugh at his attempts of burning their scales. They were holding off the attacks as best as they could, but they were starting to get overwhelmed. A few of their group were bleeding heavily, Lyra was starting to fear that they weren’t going to make it. She looked for Kai, she wanted to apologize for getting him into this mess. It was her fault he was there, he only came because of her. She found him picking his targets carefully. An earth user put a small mound of dirt under him to give him a better vantage point as he sniped any kobolds that were trying to attack Captain Tempest’s.

Fighting with all the strength she had left, Lyra was certain this was the end. Suddenly she heard a roar. What now, she thought to herself, wasn’t being surrounded by kobolds enough? The roar sounded like a feral beast, she prayed it wasn’t a dragon coming to finish them all off. Now that she thought about it, kobolds did tend to put their dens near dragons, they almost worshiped them. The thought filled her with dread.

She soon found out what created the sound. It was Sergeant Ajax. He barrelled down the tunnel with his greatsword held to his side in both hands. Charging with his group of recruits he smashed into the rear of the kobolds. With one horizontal cut he sliced three of them in half, and with his backhand he cut another two. Panic rushed through the kobolds as they turned to face this new threat. When they saw what was coming for them they tried to run. Lyra didn’t blame them. A mountain of a man, covered in blood from his wounds as well as mostly the blood of his enemies, ripping through kobolds as if they were paper. They tried to run, but were stopped by Tempest with Lyra and the other recruits at his side. The battle was over, all that was left was finishing it.

The kobolds fought to the death, giving and receiving no mercy. With the entrance of Ajax, the kobolds lost all heart and the ending came swift.

After the battle, Lyra sat outside on the dusty hill with the other recruits. Ajax helped her and the other earth users collapse the tunnels and the whole cavern after they had left. It was exhausting work. Ajax had mentioned that an earth mage could have done this alone, but he didn’t want to wait the month or so it would take to get one over here. So together they made it work.

They suffered two losses, one from Tempest’s group and one from Ajax’s. Almost all had been wounded, some severely, some had only a few cuts. Lyra had a cut on her thigh that was moderately deep that she hadn’t even felt until after the battle. One of the unwounded recruits, Marcell she thought his name was, wrapped the wound while she sipped some water. She was doing better at remembering names now. At first she was hesitant to make friends, but after the fight she realized making friends might keep her alive throughout this ordeal.

Captain Tempest said a few words about the bravery of their fallen companions and the bravery of each other. He kept it brief, he obviously could see how physically and emotionally exhausted his troops were and so he let them rest. After everybody was bandaged and taken care of, they traveled about a mile down the road where they set up camp for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

As soon as camp was set up Lyra sought out Kai. She found him with another archer comparing the way they were fletching new arrows.

“Lyra! Come on over here.” He patted the ground next to him. She sat down, muscles groaning in protest, and gave the other archer a small nod.

“Lyra is it? My name is Gareth. I saw you fighting next to Captain Tempest, you’re a terror with that sword you are.” He offered a small grin.

“Gareth is an air user Lyra, you should have seen the way he moves the air around his arrows. It’s incredible, he literally never misses.” Kai said excitedly.

“I’m just glad you didn’t see the times I missed then, because I can assure you I am not as accurate as you think.” They all chuckled at that.

“How are you doing Kai? After all that I mean, it was… a lot.” Lyra struggled to find the right words.

Kai’s face fell at that. He seemed to think a moment before saying softly. “It was definitely a lot. I’m alright though, I didn’t think I would see death so soon is all. He was right next to me, the one who died. An arrow through the throat, and I didn’t even know his name.” He grew quieter, “It could have been me, I could have died in an instant and not even knew what hit me. It’s terrifying.”

They all grew silent at that, each thinking the same thing. It could be any of them next. It was a sobering thought.

Gareth was the one to break the melancholy. “I guess that just means we have to be better, doesn’t it? The only way to survive this whole thing, and not just training with the dragon corps, I mean actually survive the dragon corps. The only way is to be better, and to keep getting better until we’re the best.”

Lyra couldn’t keep her negative thoughts out of her mind. The only reason she didn’t die today was because the kobold basically threw itself onto her sword. That and the fact that Tempest killed everything that came within two feet of them of course. She severely started to wonder if she was going to make it through this training alive.

With these thoughts weighing her down she mumbled goodbyes to Kai and Gareth and went back to her tent on the edge of camp. She grabbed her sword and headed out a little ways, so as not to make too much noise. Then she went through her stances. If she was going to be the best, she needed to practice more than everybody else.

Her muscles screamed at her to stop, they ached and burned. She pushed on, stopping only when she was covered in sweat and could barely lift her sword. Then she went back and cleaned and sharpened her sword, her father’s words ringing in her ear. “A soldier is only as good as their sword,” he would say. She knew he would be proud to see her keeping her sword in good condition before resting.

I hope I’m making you proud, father, she thought to herself. Because I'm doing my best. And with that thought, she fell into a deep sleep.