Chapter One

Sparks bounced off the sword as it clashed against the shield of metal and wood. People surrounded the circle drawn in the dirt with excitement and nerves, hoping the swordsman they out their money on would take home the win. The two competitors were very evenly matched, both skills wise and physique wise, so there was no way of determining what the outcome would be. The only leverage was that one of the men was well known throughout these parts, while the other was an upstart trying to make a name for himself. Obviously, the guy with the reputation at stake had a lot more to loose in this match than the rookie who was just trying to make a name and some quick bucks for the road.

It looked like the local name had the upper hand on the upstart, who wasn't fighting back but simply defending himself against all of the attacks thrown at him by the other swordsman. When the spectators realised that as well they began to boo him, wishing for him to fight back to make the competition interesting. The rookie sighed and suddenly took a firmer stance, twirling his sword in his hand. I'm bored of this already, he thought to himself as the other swordsman went to strike at him again. Rather than knocking him back with his shield, the upstart finally used his sword back and the crowd began shouting again.

The reputable swordsman smiled for the first time in the match, "Finally gonna use those skills of yours I've been hearin' about? Let's see what you've got, newbie."

The upstart spat on the ground, disappointed by the match. This guy was supposed to be one of the best swordsman around these parts? How pathetic. Now that he was putting in some effort to strike back, the other swordsman began to loose his balance a little. With every blow he was struck by, his stance became less solid and more subject to being throw off balance. After landing one final blow, the rookie took advantage of his unsteadiness and kicked his shield with enough force to send him toppling out of the ring and therefore making him loose the match. The crowd erupted into applause for the victor.

"Once again, our winner is Casimir Ivanov from Altair!"

Casimir raised his arm and waved proudly at the crowd, partially aware that his shirt was almost shredded and pretty much useless. He turned to face his opponent and stretched out a hand to help him up.

"Well fought, Leopold. Maybe you will win next time, eh?"

Leopold Colburn, a renowned swordsman in Tiona, took Casimir's hand gratefully, "Aye, but I should train a lot more before that day. You barely look like you've broken a sweat, bloody Altairian." His words sounded harsh to a normal person's ear, but it was only a swordsman's way of saying, 'You were pretty good yourself.' His pride wouldn't allow him to outright compliment his opponent.

A young man walked over to the two swordsmen and passed Casimir a leather bag of gold coins. "Your share of the bets, Master Casimir," he spoke quietly and politely. Casimir opened the bag and counted the right number of coins before pulling one out and tossing it to the man.

"Thank you for your good service." Code for: 'Thanks for not pinching any of my winnings.'

"You seem pretty respected 'round these parts, especially for an Altairian," Leopold said, sheathing his sword and walking with Casimir over to the lockers. "Most of these folk don't like your people."

Casimir shrugged, removing his torn shirt and putting on his dirty old one. It was only marginally better because it lacked the tears and holes that his battle shirt had. "Well, I wouldn't like most Altairians either."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I'm a rare exception. Most Altairian swordsmen seem to be overly cocky," Casimir said as he threw all his things into a backpack and retied his belt, which had his sword hanging from it, "especially since most of them get a dragon pretty much the moment they are born."

Leopold seemed a little confused. "You don't have a dragon?"

Casimir shook his head, walking towards the stables, "No, only my horse. For some reason, none of the dragons back in Altair would even look at me. All my elder siblings thought I was a failure, which is why I became a master swordsman and moved to Tiona."

"You really are a curious person, aren'tcha?" Leopold said with a chuckle before he whistled. Casimir looked up to the sky expectantly, watching for a dragon to appear but none came. It was after a few moments that he heard wing beats begin to rumble through the air before a dragon landed softly on the earth, with a stunning female rider on its back. She hopped off the dragon and rushed over to Leopold.

"How were the matches, big brother?"

Leopold rubbed the young woman's head, "I was undefeated until my final match, then this bloke 'ere beat me."

She looked up with stunning lavender eyes. She frowned at Casimir at first before sighing and looking back at the dragon. "What do you think, Aedre?"

The dragon looked at Casimir, its dark blue gaze feeling rather icy on his skin. Was this dragon judging him? After a moment, the young woman smiled and stretched a hand out to Casimir.

"The name's Adaline Colburn, Leo's little sister. This here is my water dragon, Aedre."

As a greeting, Aedre simply snorted at Casimir and turned away. He took Adaline's hand and shook it, surprised at how such a delicate hand could hold such a firm grip. She then turned to look at Leopold,

"By the way, we will need to hurry if we are going to make it in time for the tournament this evening. You do still plan on entering, don't you?"

Casimir looked confused, "Tournament? Like for fighting?"

Leopold shook his head, moving over to Aedre, "No. I guess since you are an Altairian you would have never heard of the Dragon Tournament before, so it's only natural you would assume the tournament was for fighting."

"Well, it does include some fighting," Adaline piped in as she jumped onto Aedre's back. She looked at Casimir, who was about to continue heading towards the stables, "Why don't you come with us to check it out, and we can drop you back here later to get your horse."

"What is the Dragon Tournament?" Casimir asked, not moving closer to the dragon. It's teeth were bared at him, and they looked awfully sharp.

"It is a sort of competition to see if you are worthy enough to be a dragon rider," Leopold explained, hopping onto Aedre's back. "Unlike in Altair, we don't have a surplus of dragon eggs, so whenever one comes up it is given to the Council of Elders to entrust to someone they deem worthy enough to care for it, and have a mutual respect with it. They only allow certain people to enter certain events, depending on the dragon egg."

Adaline rubbed Aedre's neck, "I got dear Aedre here from a tournament, but since water dragons are all about beauty and grace, I didn't need to do any fighting."

Casimir just looked confused, "So it's a competition and the prize is a dragon? If you ask me, I don't think that is a very fair trial to see who is a good rider and who isn't. What is some expert swordsman comes in and wins an ice dragon, but then it turns out that he is one of the most lying, deceitful people that have lived?"

"True, that could happen," Leopold said, "but since ice dragons are quite rare that exact example is uncommon. Besides, the challenges vary for each breed of dragon, so most of the time things like that don't happen."

"This system was established by Queen Arabelle herself," Adaline said, a touch of coldness entering her tone as she glared down Casimir. "No one doubts that it is the safest way of deciding who gets to become a rider, here in Tiona. Many of those who fail travel to Altair to try and find a dragon themselves. That is why I am surprised you don't have a dragon. At least, I assume you don't have one because you travelled by horse..."

He shrugged, "What can I say: I don't mix too well with dragons."

Leopold chuckled and stretched a hand down to Casimir, "Come on, Aedre is strong enough to fly with all three of us on her back. You can come and watch the tournament, so maybe one day you might enter it for yourself and return to your home with pride."

Casimir looked at Leopold's hand, then to the dragon. She clearly didn't seem too happy about having to have him ride on her. What do the dragons all have against me? He wondered angrily as he took the hand and climbed onto the dragon, unsure what to hold onto.

"Relax, Casimir, just hold onto the back of my shirt and you will be fine," Leopold said with a teasing grin as he held onto his sister's waist. "I'm sure everyone will understand why two of the finest swordsmen in the two kingdoms are clinging to each other on the back of a dragon with a woman rider."

"I'm sure..." Casimir's voice quivered as he grabbed a firm hold of the fabric on Leopold's back. Adaline turned around to check that the two of them were sitting firmly on the back of the dragon before facing the front once again.

"Alright, Aedre, let's roll!"

With a loud cry, the water dragon moved its powerful blue wings and lifted up off the ground. Casimir let out a small yelp of surprise at the dragon quickly picked up speed and began to turn the green forest below them into a giant blur. He noticed that a small village came and went so quickly that he could have blinked and missed the entire thing.

That was when he noticed that the dragon's movements were a little tense, as though it was constantly trying to follow instruction before doing what it was meant to and often having to loop back if it went too far. Dragon and rider links, remember? He thought to himself, seeing a concentrated look on Adaline's face. He secretly wondered what it would be like to talk to someone simply through thoughts.

Back in Altair, he had been the youngest of eight children, and all seven above him had become dragon riders at an early age. His eldest brother, Lev, who was eleven years older than him, had come across an earth dragon egg when Casimir was only a child and tried to get the two of them to bond, but it failed. The same thing continued for every single egg or hatched dragon that was presented to Casimir.

Coming from a noble family, it was humiliating and a blemish on their name, so he left his home.

Because he had never been able to communicate with dragons, or even go near one without it lashing out at him, he had never considered becoming a rider. He had trained for countless hours everyday since he was younger to become a master swordsman, and maybe someday become a knight, which would restore some of his family's lost pride because of him.

No one could figure out why he couldn't bond with dragons, or why they hated him. Even when dragons with riders were asked why they wouldn't go near him, they never answered the question. Yet since the dragons were all different species, he could only assume it was just something about him that really made dragons get all edgy. One had even tried to fly away the moment it saw him.

"Look, Casimir! It's the capital city..." Leopold said, pointing down at a large spread of large, stone buildings as far as the eye could see. "In the centre of it all is a large nursery for dragon eggs, right next to the royal castle. It is rumoured that Queen Arabelle was buried in the nursery, while Kaloua's bones are located at the entrance to the tournament arena to constantly remind people of the power dragons hold."

Arabelle, Kaloua, I don't recognise any of these names, Casimir thought to himself secretly. Growing up in Altair, he had never been taught any of the history from other countries. The only thing he knew about the country Tiona was that one of Altair's previous kings married a woman from there, Evangelina or something. She had apparently been related to the Queen of Tiona at the time.

"What type of dragon was Kaloua?" Casimir couldn't help but ask. He had come to the conclusion that it must have been the Queen's dragon, "A gold?" In Altair, the royal family was still the only family permitted to ride a gold dragon, and their current king and crown prince rode the only two known in Altair.

"No, an ice dragon actually," Adaline spoke up, looking less tense now that they were above the city. "Kaloua was thought to be the last dragon for a very long time here, until Nadi was found, and eventually more. You should read our history books one time, Casimir. I think you might find it interesting."

Nadi? Another dragon obviously, but he had no idea who rode it. He looked around in awe at all the different dragons flying above the city: some in pairs, some with riders, and some battling with others. The whole picture was just magical to him, because he had never seen the world from this view before. He now understood why his siblings were always on their dragons, flying.

"Look there: that's the nursery. Can you see the statue of the woman in front of it? That's Queen Arabelle," Leopold pointed down at a huge dome in the middle of a collection of large buildings. Sitting in front of it was a gold statue of a beautiful woman holding a dragon egg in each arm, and a crown resting on her head. Even from just her statue, Casimir could tell that she must have been a very strong and proud ruler.

"Over there is the tournament arena; you can see it if you look closely," Adaline said and looked in the other direction. In the distance, Casimir could see a gigantic stone amphitheatre that was covered in banners and flags of all sorts. The only one that he recognised was the symbol for Knights of the Dragon's Scale, a guild of knights from many kingdoms who join together to protect dragons from being hunted or abused.

"It's massive," Casimir said with awe. The mass amount of stone that it used must have been a struggle to find, though it wouldn't have taken too much effort to transport, thanks to the dragons.

Having dragons back in the world as a common occurrence had truly revolutionised the countries. Even Altair had tried to keep dragons as hidden as possible for their protection while Tiona was going through its difficulties. Now they could do so much more with the help of dragons and their riders; lifting heavy objects, such as stones, didn't even begin to cover their capabilities.

Many dragon riders dedicate themselves to doing jobs that normal people are incapable of doing. These are things such as transporting, sometimes farming, and often also mining. The dragons can use their strength to help break up rocks and materials, and fire dragons can use their flames to smelt metals. The elite riders often became knights and served in the armies, or as protection for the royal family.

Very few riders just sat around doing ordinary jobs or leading boring lives. That was why so many young people craved becoming a rider.

"Hold on, you two. We're gonna land in a minute," Adaline warned as she began to focus once again. The arena was a crowded place to be in both the air and on the land. Casimir watched as she helped guide Aedre through the gathering swarms of people and dragons until they were on the ground near the rear of the amphitheatre. She turned around to look at the two boys, "This is as far as I can take you two. I'm going to find myself a seat inside."

Casimir frowned, "Shouldn't I go with you then? I'm only here to watch."

She smiled sweetly, "No, you are going to be Leo's "squire", I guess you could say. He needs someone to help him gear up and everything."

"Squire? If anyone is becoming a squire, it should be Leopold!" Casimir said huffily as he slid off the dragon.

Leopold also came off and waved at his sister, "Cheer me on, would you? I might be coming out of this a true dragon rider like you."

Adaline chuckled at her brother, "Sure, let's stay optimistic for your sake. Take care of him, Cas!" She then took off with Aedre in the direction of the entrance. Casimir frowned and looked at Leopold.

"Cas? Since when did I tell her I was okay with being given a nickname?"

Leopold laughed and pushed Casimir towards the back entrance, where lots of other young people were waiting anxiously to get ready for their chance at becoming a rider, "Even if you had told her not to, she would still do it anyway. Come on, it's almost time."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Since some of the names this time round are a bit more abstract, I thought I would just make sure that you all understand how to pronounce them:

- (Country) Altair / Altairian: Al-tare / Al-tare-ian

- Casimir Ivanov: Ka-ss-i-meer Ivan-of

- Leopold Colburn: Lee-oh-pole-d Cole-burn

- Adaline Colburn: Add-a-line Cole-burn

- Aedre: Aye-dree