(Talrit POV)
I stood still waiting for Oberyn to make the first move as he circled around me looking at me. I stood there seemly having no guard leaving myself open, which Oberyn has obviously noticed but seems nervous about attacking since he knows I'm truly not on guard. With a quick thrust toward the small of my back, he probed my defenses, to which I responded by sidestepping at the last second.
"I thought we were sparring, why are you so nervous?" I say with a smirk on my face and he stares at me with a nervous smile.
"I follow my instincts and right now my gut is telling me you are very dangerous, that no matter where I strike it will fail," Oberyn says to me with the nervous smile on his face.
"I see then you are too scared to initiate the attack, so then I will," I say to him and I see I aggravated him with my statement. Though he is unable to respond as I calmly move to swing my sword at him.
I am holding back a lot as my skill has been honed over the centuries, plus if I use my real speed or strength it would kill him even with a very blunted sword. Oberyn's face becomes mixed with a variety of emotions as he tries his best to parry or dodge each of my strikes. His attempts at creating a distance between us are also futile, as I keep pushing forward and he keeps retreating on the defense.
I could end him at any point, but I am having fun sparring with someone as I've not had a fight in a very long time. Oberyn then finally spins his spear around trying to force me to dodge or be hit by the spear. Instead, I grabbed the spear mid-twirl and kicked Oberyn's legs out from underneath him. He fell to the ground as this all happened in one fluid motion, as I used his own spear to force him to yield.
The whole yard went quiet seeing me easily subdue Oberyn who is one of, if the best fighter in Sunspear. Oberyn stared at me in surprise and then laughed seeing how easily he was defeated. I then used my free hand to help him up and hand his spear back to him.
"By the gods, you are an amazing fighter! I do not think anyone has pushed me to lose that quickly and easily! I could tell you were holding back, I can only imagine what it looks like when you are not holding back!" Oberyn says to me as the other soldiers and guards in the area agree with Oberyn's statement.
"No one has ever forced me to go all out. Though if that day comes there will be fire and blood everywhere," I say to Oberyn with a smirk hinting about my draconic form, while he gives me a confused look but shrugs it off.
"Taking the Targaryen saying for yourself?" Oberyn says to me and I just snort.
"It is the other way around my friend," I say to him while placing my training sword back on the rack nearby.
"Some day I will get you to tell me more about your past!" Oberyn says to me.
"Maybe," I say while walking towards another rack grabbing a spear this time.
"Oh! Using my prized weapon against me!" Oberyn says to me seeing me grab the training spear.
"Should I come to you again and beat you immediately or will you come to me and lose that way?" I say to him with a teasing smile and he lets out a chuckle before charging me with the intention of skewering me.
I stood still and waited until he was a second away from hitting me, though he pulled back just before I grabbed his spear in my armpit. He seems to learn quickly as he makes half a dozen quick thrusts at me after faking his charge. I parry them all easily as he spins with his spear keeping me from closing the distance.
He is doing everything in his power to keep me on the defensive and using his 'superior' skills with the spear to overpower me. Though I am treating this fight just as calmly as the last dodging everything or parrying it while waiting for an opening. I waited for an opening instead of creating one as I was enjoying myself and did not want to discourage him too much.
I then found a small opening, as I ducked under his thrust directed for my neck and thrust my spear aimed at his left armpit. Which was successful as he yelped in pain since I was holding back my strength greatly but it still hurt him nonetheless. Seeing that if this was a real fight he would be dead, he yielded the fight with a defeated sigh.
"Shit, you must be a demi-god on the field of battle and unbeatable in a one-on-one! Now I am glad you didn't join the tourney, otherwise, I have a feeling you would have won every competition you joined," Oberyn says while rubbing his left arm's armpit since the strike I made is going to leave a large bruise.
"I did not want any more attention than I was already receiving. Especially from the mad king," I say and he laughs at hearing me.
"True, the nobles spoke about you constantly. Especially since you had the Prince's attention, my family's attention, and the King's maddened interest. I'm surprised none tried to speak with you directly, yet I would guess the Prince had something to do with that. As the spies around the palace made it very clear you were off limits unless they wanted the royal's ire," Oberyn says to me revealing why none of the nobles pestered me.
"Then how come you approached me?" I say and he smirks.
"What would happen to me? I was soon to be the Prince's brother-by-law and I am not just any noble, but one of the Princes of Dorn. The Prince would do nothing to me, plus after our first meeting you did not seem that upset with me," Oberyn says as we finished sparring for the day it seems I may have not held back enough as Oberyn appeared to be in more pain then he let on.
"You are not wrong, the only reason I agreed to travel with you is because you are one of the few people I met that I actually enjoy the company of," I say to him, and smiles at me.
"Do not let that get to your head and do not even think of trying to seduce me again. If you try again I will disappear like I was never here," I say to him and he laughs nodding his head.
The next few days passed fairly quickly as I spent most of the time reading the books I did not see in the Red Keep's library. Once everything was prepared for our journey, Oberyn bid farewell to his brother as I did the same and we departed to Braavos.
The trip to Braavos was long and boring as outside my time reading the books Oberyn and his brother let me bring for the trip, there was nothing else for entertainment. Though Oberyn passed the time drinking, gambling, and sleeping with the crew and the women he brought with him on the journey.
After the two months or so we spent on the sea we finally arrived at the 'legendary' gates to the 'great' city of Braavos. The gate is a huge statue of a warrior called 'The Titan of Braavos', which is actually a fortress in the shape of a massive statue that guards the harbor entrance to Braavos, one of the 'Free Cities'. It stands about 400ft (122m) tall.
It is the primary line of defense for Braavos and lets out a loud blast whenever a ship approaches the entrance to warn the Arsenal of its coming. That is what I read before coming here and just as I read, I hear the deep sound of a large horn being blown as we approach the statue and pass under its legs.
I was impressed as this is one of the few things I saw humans built that is something I would not expect from their kind. As we enter the harbor the captain of the boat meets with the harbor master to inform them who we are and why we are here. Though luckily it appears the message Doran sent arrived before us, informing the Iron Bank and the real rulers of the city we were arriving.
The house guards that came with us on the boat escorted us to the iron bank. As Oberyn wanted to get the meeting over with, so we could start our journey. He would be dismissing the guards and the ship after the meeting, so we could explore on our own. As we walked through the city it did appear to be in better shape than King's Landing, which at this point I assume is not difficult.
The 'Iron Bank' is a huge building, that is larger than the temple in King's Landing but smaller than the Red Keep. Still, a huge building, built like a keep with large towers, built with large heavy stones and reinforced with iron and steel. The building was truly a fortress that I can see is meant to intimidate all those who enter. While the inside was plain, but very beautiful at the same time.
As everything was made from polished stone and fine steel, but plain in design. More to fit a practical sense, but still be very 'rich' in appearance. Oberyn talked with one of the women at the front desk and they escort him to another room in the bank, as I waited in the main lobby area. Then for a split second, I felt something that I have not felt since I first arrived here in this new world.
'A true dragon! There is another!' I think to myself immediately recognizing the magical signature as another true dragon.
The last time I felt this familiar magical signature was when the red dragons attacked my mother's domain. There appears to be a red dragon in this bank, as I stood up and tried to figure out where this dragon was. My only assumption would be where they store all the gold or at the top of the bank. A red dragon would serve no one and is most likely the head of this bank.
"Take me to the head of the bank," I say to one of the women at the front desk while subtlety casting 'command' on her.
"Of course follow me," the woman says while walking me to the 'workers' only area of the bank. The guards stop us while eyeing me confused and before they can make a scene, I case command on the guards to let us through.
The woman takes me all through the back of the bank as the guards look at me with confusion. But seeing that I am being escorted by a worker and other guards, they do not stop me. We walk through many hallways, pass many rooms, and go to different levels of the building until we reach the top.
As we reach the top of this building I can see the very top level has only three doors and most likely three rooms. The woman brings me to the center doors and knocks on it before opening them. Inside I can see a huge room that has many other doors and rooms attached to it. Though in the center of this main room is a large desk with a very beautiful woman sitting at it.
The woman was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen among humans before, unnaturally beautiful. She had vibrant red hair, ruby-red eyes, a very expensive necklace made from gold, and a red dress that matched her hair. The dress was made with very fine silk it seemed and conformed to her body perfectly showing off all her assets.
'She is the true dragon, a red dragon. We can change our forms to anything we wish, but the one thing we can not change is our eyes. They will remain the color we truly are and we can always tell one another part from the look behind the eyes,' I think to myself having met the first other true dragon in this world.