"about the same." She muttered. She glanced up as another person came into the throne room
"Ah general, any news?"
He shook his head "none, everything is well, so far. ready for training you're Magesty?" He asked, the three new guards at his side snickering at the thought of their queen fighting them.
She smiled knowingly and nodded "I believe I am."
Drake cracked an eye open, then the other, a small smile tugging as his lips though he didn't say anything.
She stood and headed over to a wall where swords were hung "coming?" She asked the guys behind her
"Why not," He shrugged and stood, "Though I'll just watch this time."
The general nodded and followed THe two out along with the guards. "You three opened your big mouths, great job."
Val led them to the armory within the castle "alright, who's first?"
One of the guards grinned confidently "Now you're majesty I don-" before he could finish, Val lunged at him with her sword, twisting it out of his hand "you were saying?"
Drake bit back a chuckle as he sat down.
Well this is gonna be interesting… Kerrian chuckled and the sound reverberated inside his mind.
The guard looked in surprise "seems I underestimated you, your Magesty."
"Seems like you did. And please no formalities." She handed the sword back to him. "Come on, the rest of you."
"I'd do as she says or she'll humiliate you and kick your asses even harder then she was planning." Drake said, smirking.
She nodded "he's not wrong." She said with a smile. The three guard surrounded her, ready to train. "General, why don't you go take a break, I think we've got it from here.
"Bu-"
"These fine men are more then capable of protecting and fighting. They don't need the pressure of their general weighing on top of their shoulders. They have me and Drake for that." She smiled sweetly and addressed the men around her "ready positions."
They obeyed with determined grins.
They're not gonna win. Kerrian snickered.
"You're not wrong…" He muttered.
She swung her sword casually at her side as she walked around the men "to see what we need improving, I need to know what you can already do well. You will attack at once so this will also test your cooperation and confidence in one another." She stopped in the middle of them not even lifting her sword. "Whenever your ready. And mind you, I'm recovering from an incident we had so use that to your advantage."
The guards exchanged a couple looks, almost as if having a silent conversation before they swung at Val in time.
She grinned and swung in a full circle, knocking the swords awayfrom her. "Come on boys, you have better skills than that." She taunted.
One of them went to attack her left, the other her right and the last swing at her feet.
Val sideswept the blade coming from her left and blocked the attack coming from the right. She stepped on the sword by her feet and twisted it out of the guards hands "that was good. Again." She relaxed and got ready for their next attack. They did this for a few hours before all four of them couldn't even hold their swords up. "Alright, I think we're good for today."
Drake had dosed off during all the fighting, soft snores escaping his lips and blowing a strand of his hair out of his face at the same time.
Val walked over and poked him gently "Drake wake up," she said quietly
Drake jumped just a little, rubbing at his eyes, “You finished?”
She nodded "Yeah, Unless you want a go?" she asked with a smile
He shook his head, “Nah, maybe another time.” He yawned and stood up, stretching.
She shook her head "lazy," she teased, putting the sword back on an open stand in the room.
"I'm not lazy. It is called selective participation." He replied.
"energy saving mode? Yeah, that's accurate." She shook her head and smiled "well, I apologies for my early departure but I have a friend to meet. You don't happen to know another shifter do you? I met them last night in the green house. He manipulated blue fire, much like you do. They seem familiar, very familiar…." She trailed off in thought
Well fu-
Shut up, you knew this would happen and besides, now she gets to meet you properly without really knowing who exactly your other half is…
Drake shook his head, "No, I don't. Not in these parts I don't, anyway. Unless they flew all the way from my kingdom then I wouldn't know them."
She nodded "you're probably right. They're probably visiting from your kingdom. Maybe I have seen them before, just not formally. Or maybe I'm just going nuts." She shook her head and calmed herself "thank you," she said to Drake before walking out and heading to the gardens
"You're welcome!" He called, waving a little. He waiting until Val was out of sight before he left. He got to the meeting point before her and shifted, letting Kerrian take control. When Kerrian was, the dragon looked slightly different, more aggressive then when Drake was in control. The blue on his chest and wings were brighter, his spikes on his head and back were longer and he was generally bigger in size. If you looked at him, there was a sense of familiarity but you couldn't place where from.
She took the long way through the gardens to try to steel herself. "you are a queen, start acting like one. You shouldn't be nervous. Yes he reminds you of Drake, hell you wouldn't be surprised if it were…liar, you'd totally be surprised." she spoke to herself. She picked her head up and let the last rays of sunlight wash over her in warmth. "Ok, ok. you're fine," she reassured herself, coming upon the hill where she and her mystery friend would meet. She glanced up at the dragon who awaited her, taking in all the details and his striking form "I'm guessing you're who I'm supposed to meet?" she said in surprise. No…who else? she chastised herself sarcastically
Kerrian chuckled and folded himself into a siting position, resting his head on his front legs and wrapping his tail round himself, "Indeed it is."
"Ah so the dragon speaks, that is a rarity among shifters." she sat in front of him, having to tilt her head back a bit to look him in the eyes. "so I take it you're not around from here, where then?"
"That is correct, yes," He replied, "I'm from Maradova, as are most to all dragon shifters."