"I'm not a child!" He firmly asserted once again. "I know it's different for dragons but as a human, I'm considered an adult. Remember, humans die before they ever reach one hundred years old."
This reminder of such a little-known fact to them made them all shut up. "So that makes you over a quarter of the way done with your lifespan," Koda observed.
"I'd forgotten that, how strange that you humans live such short lives. What meaningful accomplishments can truly be achieved in such a short amount of time?"
"Can we move on?" Tate asked wierily.
Bezhar clapped his hands. "The human is right, let's get on with it. Debating human age is not going to get us out of this situation any faster. If we want to return to our regular forms sooner rather than later we need to get it together and get the human through as many trials as we can. After yesterday I think it's safe to say that we don't need to worry about his skill with a talon. As for hand-to-hand fighting, I don't think we were able to get an accurate assessment. He's so weak compared to us that I don't even think it's worth pursuing any further unless we absolutely have to." He looked Tate up and down. "I think the safest bet will be to rely on another weapon skill...but what weapon can we use."
Koda looked at Tate and explained. "We know that humans have to rely on weapons like a talon but the rest of the options for the traditional Quillintine have to do with what dragons have naturally, claws, fire, and sometimes poison."
Tate nodded at him in thanks for the explanation. "What if we modified the poison test?" The one called Nox spoke up.
"And how do you propose we do that?" Yokan asked mockingly. "It's a test reserved for dragons with poison spines. How exactly do you propose we modify that for a human with no spines or anything remotely spiky on his entire being."
"Wait, it might not be a bad idea. Nox, are you thinking of having him throw it?"
Nox nodded. "We can give him a few darts that resemble the poison spines and then run the trial like we usually do. The only difference will be that his opponent will be in their true form and he will be stuck on the ground. We can even accommodate for this by making out a course that he has to run through and throw them at different angles."
Bezhar rubbed his chin. "That's not bad. Let me discuss it with Elder Narka and see if she has any objections. It's decided then the two events of the Quillintine that the human will be required to pass are the talon fight and the poison mark."
Without any further discussion, Tate was handed a talon. "Let's start with this. I want him to face every one of you today in succession."
With that, the most grueling six hours of his life began. He started with the twins again except this time he faced Onen first. After Bezhar called time with Onen, Oben stepped up ready for revenge. They sparred for even longer than they had the day before. By the end of that match, Tate was bleeding from a cut on his upper arm and one on the back of his thigh. Oben got away with only a glancing scratch on his rib cage. Next up was Nox, Nox was as he had assessed the day before, lean but strong. He was also extremely quick. Tate understood now why Oben was considered the least skilled among the unit of the elite. He'd had a horribly hard time keeping up with Nox. When Nox was done with him, he was sliced to ribbons. The cuts were everywhere and were shallow. Nox was a master who knew just how much pressure to apply and when. It took skill to make this many cuts and not make any of them too deep. Next was Romin, then Yokan, and then Koda. Each of them disarmed him and each time he faced a new dragon the time it took them to do it was less and less and the amount of cuts and buries he had at least doubled every time.
By the time Akashaw stepped up before him Tate felt like he could fall over. If he was in the middle of a war this would be different. In battles where your life was truly on the line, the body tapped into an energy that was unexplainable and just plain inaccessible unless you knew that faltering would mean your death. In this situation, he just could not convince his body that death was imminent. He was in a great deal of pain and discomfort but on death's door? No.
Bezhar finally gave him a proper rest before facing this final opponent. Akashaw just stared at him. He could almost read his thoughts, after all, Akashaw wasn't doing anything to hide them. He was bored, he knew that he was facing the weakest version of an already weak opponent, and he was right.
Tate raised the talon when Bezhar gave the signal, but that was about all he could do. In two seconds he was disarmed and huffing like he'd run for miles. He stumbled and caught himself with his hands before he smacked his face into the ground.
"Pathetic." He heard someone mumble from behind him. He was pretty sure it was Akashaw, but he couldn't spare the energy to care about such insults.
He was sucking in the air as fast as his body could. His arms and legs trembled from the long exertion. His eyes crossed as a droplet of blood slipped into his peripheral vision and slid down his nose before dripping onto the ground underneath him.
"Stand up," Bezhar demanded. Tate stood ungracefully and turned to look at the dragons. Most of them looked like nothing had happened. They just stood in a semi-circle staring at him.
Besides a small cut here and there they looked just as they had six hours ago, yet he looked a mess. He probably looked like a horrifying monster at this point. He was covered in sweat, dirt, and a lot of blood.
"Well, it's not a terrible start. I think we will do this again tomorrow to see if we can improve before we try anything with the poison." Bezhar declared.
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Long after the human Tate had left Bezhar stood in the middle of the training square. The other dragons had gone back to the room in the barracks that they occupied when they were in their human forms.
He knew that his men were not happy with what they had all been roped into. He wasn't even their commander most of the time. They came from their own prestigious orders and units, he was the only member of the Royal Guard who was only a member of the Royal Guard.
He didn't like this human, he was a huge inconvenience. However, as much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't as terrible as he'd been expecting. It was no contest in a fight of brute strength but when he watched him fight with a talon...
He couldn't really explain it, maybe it was because humans fought with something similar more often than a dragon did. He just couldn't help but think that the way he fought with a weapon was strangely mesmerizing. It had not also escaped his trained eye that he fought like someone with a great deal of experience. Even though the human claimed to be an adult this was still jarring for him when he considered Tate's age. He could not separate that in his mind it didn't make sense that a child had been in any battles.
He knew just from observing the fights that the human could see the moves of the opponents before they even made them. This was a skill that was not developed overnight. He'd even go so far as to say that he didn't know but one or two dragons who could do this. Of course, the reason for that was simple. Although they trained with talons it was not their primary method of fighting. They were dragons and as dragons, they'd been blessed with features that were naturally bent towards death and destruction. Each dragon had their own unique ability and nine times out of ten the application of that ability was most easily seen in a combat situation.
A human was different. They had no scales, no claws, no fire, no special gifts. What you saw was what they had, which in a dragon's eyes was nothing. He freely admitted to himself and if someone asked he'd tell them too. These humans just looked like prey to him, the same as a sheep or a cow would. Other creatures in the world, even when in human form, did not spark his hunting instinct, but the human did.
He wished it was not so, but it could not be helped. He knew that the other dragons coming into contact with the human called Tate, and the other one were probably suffering from a similar inkling.
It didn't help that the human bled red. His subordinates had been revolted the first time they'd seen it the day before. He'd hidden it well but he'd felt the same way. The reason was also simple and underlined the validity of his feelings on the matter. Only things that were to be eaten bled red.
He left the yard and went in search of the Elder. He needed to ask her to approve their plan for the Quillintine. He also wanted to ask her once again why she was making them do this. He didn't exactly blame the human, any more than he'd blame a dog for wandering in off the streets. He was just confused as to why they were wasting any resources or time on these creatures. Tate was the first human he'd ever encountered and he now felt he understood why they were sealed away. They were too delicate for this world. They looked and smelled like food but were just as intelligent and sentient as dragons, elves, and other similar beings. It must have been torture in ancient times to keep from wiping them out just based on instinct alone.
He didn't know who this "mage" was the Elder was going to introduce the humans to if Tate passed the Trails. He wondered why she just didn't call that genius mage everyone talked of. He didn't know of anyone in the nest that had enough magic to send them back through the barrier. He could only assume that she knew something he didn't. He wanted to understand. He wanted to feel like he was doing something worthwhile, so he was going to try asking one last time.