Exceeding Expectations

Panic began to set in with Callum. He had somehow been completely blinded and all that he knew was that Brenna was going to kill Tyviin. He could tell it was not a bluff because the instant that Brenna had made her threat, he could feel an immense fear coming from the adolescent dragon, and shortly after he could hear him struggling and letting out a series of shrieks.

"Why are you doing this?" Callum shouted. "Is this really how you train new riders, what is wrong with you?!"

"Now now, how do you expect to listen while you are so busy complaining? You are wasting time. If you do not discern our location and halt my blade, rest assured young one, your dragon will die." Brenna spoke in a sickeningly calm voice that only reinforced Callum's fears.

He took a deep breath as his pulse quickened and he forced himself to focus on the sounds around him. He was overwhelmed again, there was just too much going on. He could hear everything, there was no way for him to determine where any individual sound came from. He began to sweat. 'Wonderful rider I turned out to be, Tyviin is not even a full day old and I'm going to get him killed.'

But then, he could hear the steady tapping of metal on metal. The slow, constant rhythm seemed to calm Callum's mind, suddenly he could feel it, and all the noise created a sort of picture and he could determine the location and movement of all those around him. 'You can do this.' came a barely audible whisper.

'The tapping, it's Lyara hitting her blades together.' Callum thought. 'Then that means....over there!' Callum turned his body instinctively to the right, towards the sound of Brenna breathing and at that same moment, he could hear her blade begin to slice through the air, ready to find its target.

Without thinking, he began to run as fast as he could towards the sound, noticing that he was reacting so quickly that time seemed to slow down and he was able to assess the situation. 'Ok, I'm going to make it in time, that much is certain. But how do I stop her attack? I'm such an idiot, I left my sword at home, even after Orin told me over and over to take it with me wherever I go. Doesn't matter, I'll just have to use my bare hands, I only have to stop her I don't necessarily have to be in one piece, as long as Tyviin is ok.'

As if on cue, Callum heard another sound coming from his left side rapidly. His lips curled into a grin as he realized what it was. It passed in from of him, slicing through the air itself. He leaped from the ground with his arm outstretched, his fingers curled around the object before he touched back down on the ground, rolling quickly forward, he settled in a crouched position and lashed out with his new weapon.

*CLANG*

As his vision returned, Callum slowly began to process the scene. He was on one knee in front of Brenna with his left arm stretched out. In his hand, he held a violet, diamond shape blade that was slightly longer than his forearm. It had segments on it that overlapped like a dragon's scales and were etched with strange runes. The short, thin hilt was wrapped in sturdy black leather and ended with a circular loop at the pommel. He had stopped Brenna's blade. His eyes traced the sword back up the arm and finally settled on Brenna's face. She was smiling in a shockingly soft way while starting at a point beyond Callum's shoulder. Confused, turned his head around quickly to see that Tyviin had not moved from his original location. Callum stood up straight and stared quizzically at the elder rider.

"Now I am impressed," Brennan said before throwing her head back and laughing loudly. "What you have just done is rare, very rare. I have known of only two fledgling riders that were able to master their senses so quickly, one of them happens to be standing here with us." She then gestured at Varyn who waved his hand slightly.

"But...how? I could hear Tyviin struggling to get away from you, I could sense his presence right in front of me. How is he behind me now? Why couldn't I see, what did you do to me." Callum was sweating now, he could not comprehend how she had fooled his senses so completely. He had seen riders perform seemingly impossible feats, but this was on another level.

"It was all an illusion boy, a powerful one, I am quite skilled in the art. Your dragon was never in any real danger, I just needed you to believe that he was. This exercise is typically used to emphasize the importance of the next lesson, even though you were able to stop me others were not and for a moment they experienced the pain of unimaginable loss, be grateful that you did not. You and Tyviin are bonded, in this life and the next. This means that if either of you dies, so does the other, without exception. He is more vulnerable now, but once he grows you will be his weakness, never forgot that."

Callum felt the magnitude of what Brenna was telling him, and although he disagreed with her methods he understood why they were necessary. "Yes master, I will never forget this, and I will do my best to protect Tyviin until my last breath leaves me."

'As I will fight to protect you, Callum' said Tyviin deep within Callum's mind.

Brenna smiled and nodded in approval. "You will become a fine rider, I suppose I may owe your sister an apology.

"I told you he has potential, he is my brother after all." Lyara exclaimed proudly as she and Varyn approached Callum. "Can I have that back now?" she asked, motioning towards her weapon in his hand.

"Oh, yeah of course, what kind of weapon is this? It's so light, and the design is strange, I have never seen anything like it." He took one last look and then place the blade into his sister's palm. As she closed her fingers around the hilt the runes began to glow with soft violet light and then a clicking sound could be heard as the segments began to pull apart from each other, extending the length of the blade and making it serrated from the tip to the bottom of the blade. The weapon seemed to have come alive with deadly energy.

"These are what we like to call 'Bond Arms' they are unique to each rider and completely badass," Lyara said as she twirled both blades quickly around each index finger before catching them, and storing them in their sheaths on her hips, back in their original forms.

"Don't worry fledgling, you will learn all about these when your training officially begins," Brenna said as she placed her blade in its sheath under her outer robe. "For now, it seems like we are finally able to begin your final introductory lesson before we leave, your peers have finally arrived."

Callum knew what Brenna was saying, with his newfound control over his senses he didn't have to look to know that Raela and Firrol were coming over the hill just above the river.

Brenna raised her hands just above her waist with her palms open and facing the ground as small pebbles and dirt began to drift up and gather together as hard floating masses about the size of an apple, floating just below her fingers. A brownish light could be seen shining below her robes. "You're late." She said in her now familiar deadly voice. "That means you can help me demonstrate our final lesson for the day. Magic!"

Suddenly the floating stones shot out at a high velocity, Callum struggled to keep his eyes on them as they traveled through the air before they struck their targets, the foreheads of both Raela and Firrol.