The Alpha Dragon

The Beginning.

AKRA:

I've always been hunting and running. That's nothing out of the ordinary for me, I'm used to it as I have been running for most of my life. 

Right now I'm running as fast as I can, weaving in and out through the trees, jumping over the fallen ones as well as a few random bushes and shrubs that cross my path, I'm doing my best now to escape from those who are currently hunting me. 

I'm slowly losing stamina, I'm covered in dirt and sweat. It's been a couple of hours since the chase has started and they are still just out of reach of me. I'm trying to find my opportunity to retaliate, after that the chase will come to an end. It's now dusk, the first of the evening stars are starting to appear, i'm running out of time. My dragon Ahmeira was trying to take over, I told her to be quiet so I could listen, whilst I fought with the inner conflict within myself, between my dragon and I.

I stop in a clearing and take in my surroundings, I look back and can hear the men are gaining, their torches are within my sight. It won't be long before they catch up to us and I needed to act quickly. 

'Akra let me take over and this will be done, pleeeeesee!!! I can't take this anymore.'  Ahmeira whined at me, pacing impatiently.

'No, I got this. If I let you out, you will only burn the forest down and we can't have that for only a few men.' I replied, as she puffed smoke at me and turned away as if offended.

'Don't be like that, you know I'm right and we also don't need the attention, as it could make their assault worse as we don't know how many there are or what we are facing exactly.' I continued. Ahmeira rolled her eyes at me, but she knew I was right.

I take a deep breath to steady my heaving chest and to calm myself, to clear my mind. I try not to use magic when I'm in situation's like these because I love the thrill of the chase and the hunt, whether or not it's by me or them. This chase has been exciting and I had few close calls, it's been a while since i've been chased this long or for them to actually put up a fight.

I close my eyes and tilt my face towards the sky. I place my hands in front of me, palms facing upwards and chant under my breath. My hood falls back from the gust of wind that suddenly appears as my spell is working. I keep chanting and now have my palms facing away from me. North, south, east, west. 

A moment later and my spell is complete, there is now silence and I need to act quickly. The spell is temporary, but should be affective. 

I run back towards the torches as quickly as I can, drawing my swords from their straps and holding them at my sides. 

As I get closer I see the men who have been trying to find me, I count 30 as an estimate as there are probably more, I also count 4 black horse drawn carriages and the horses themselves were pitch black. These were Garmur's men. Ahmeira was now giving her full attention.

'Be careful, something isn't right.' she warned. I nodded in reply. 

Garmur is a bounty hunter, nothing more or less and has no magical talent, but does recruit those that do. He's one of the best in our territory, one of the fiercest warriors known. Unfortunately for Gamur, his legend is nothing compared to mine and nothing infuriates him anymore than knowing that he is second best to a woman. I am not only his greatest hunt, I'm also his rivalry. He will never stop until he has bested me and gained the title of best in the land, but whilst I live and breathe, it's always been out of his reach, mainly because he is careless and his ego is always in the way. But, I should say that none the less, he is still relentless and still feared. Defeating me, would be the ultimate victory.

I slow down and stay out of sight of the carriages, i watch the sight in front of me in slow motion and start to plan my assault. Even though my magic is strong, slowing down time can depend on the spell itself and how it is cast, its an unpredictable spell as it can last any where between a few minutes to half an hour. I've learned to be able to guess at how long I have when I use this spell and some times I'm usually accurate. By the looks of it, I have roughly 10 minutes. Our main concern is who or what the carriages may contain. I decided to clear the men that weren't in the carriages first. I let them come into the darkness and they were dead before they could even hit the ground. This is why I'm considered a ghost amongst those who tell tales about me, but as far as I know there are only very few know about my magic casting and Gamur is one of them.

I now shifted my focus onto the carriages, even the windows were tinted. I waved my hand and they shattered.  Ahmeira huffed at me rolling her eyes again as if to call me a show off and I smiled.

Next thing I know, without warning all four of the carriages exploded and I'm thrown onto my back with the wind knocked out of me. Coughing, I got up and tried to keep low as possible with my swords ready, on alert and ready for an attack, I looked slowly around. I soon realised it was too quiet and it made me feel uneasy. 

'LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT!!!' Ahmeira screamed at me, trying to now not only force her way out but claw her way out. I fell forward, holding my head and my face twisted in pain, because of my dragon fighting to come out. 

GAMUR:

I was giddy with anticipation, victory just within my grasp, she was not going to get away this time. 

Akra always managed to slip away and didn't help that not only was she a caster, but didn't help she was also part dragon.

The carriages were only a ploy, a distraction to draw her forward and there she was on her knees, holding her head, occasionally letting out a yelp in pain. Her dragon was trying to break free, I could tell. 

I had to attack now, before they could resolve the inner conflict. 

Myself and 300 men come out to confront Akra/Ahmeira, as we surrounded her, she got unsteadily to her feet, she was frowning to keep focus, beads of sweat trickling down her face and held her swords in front of her, taking in the men that surrounded her.

I hated this woman, I hated her so much that I could feel it in my core and it caused my body to shake. Upon seeing this she started to laugh at me. 

'Gamur, you know your no match for me.' She said. smiling at me. 

With this I charged at her with such a force, but she was ready and prepared. No matter how much I tried to make contact with my own machete, I couldn't touch her as she always countered. I had to change tactic and take her by surprise. As I brought the machete down and she defended, I kicked in her knee and she screamed in pain as it broke, she faltered, but still stood her ground. Why won't she go down? It pissed me off. So then brought my knee into her ribs and broke them, again she screamed in pain, this time she fell to the ground. I tried to bring the machete down into her and she rolled away from me and kicked me to the head, as I reacted, I then felt pain of my own, she pushed one of her swords into my shoulder all the way to the handle. The other into my knee, she was returning the favour. 

Next thing I know, everything went black. 

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