Page 6 of Black Wing and Shadows
“Auriella, nice to put a name to a face.”
The rest of our squad made it across. Another wooden wall was set up for us to climb, identical to the first set of walls. Callum and the other guy staged at the sides of the wall. This time, I went first, doing it entirely as I had before. I reached the bottom, pivoted to look at the next obstacle, and stopped in my tracks. My stomach lurched, and I felt my heart stutter. Being raised around fliers didn't mean coming across one unexpectedly wasn't alarming. I knew how fickle they could be.
“Hey guys, when you come across, do it nice and easy, there are two small-sized dragons… and they aren’t happy.”
“What”
“Uhhh”
“Fuuuuuck!” The word tore out, tangled with gasps, voices blurring so I couldn’t tell who shouted from where I stood.
I briefly closed my eyes, took a few deep, steady breaths, then reopened them to evaluate the scene. We faced a mud pit identical to the one we had crossed earlier, but this one was deeper—oh fuck. I understood why the dragons were so enraged. The eager ass who had started running, laid in the middle of the mud pit, his back pant leg caught on jagged, charred barbed wire. The cadet was visibly trembling, and I suspected he had vomited, based on the food clumps scattered nearby.
“Did you learnyour lesson?” I asked.
“No. Yes. Um, um, um. Can you help me?”
“Maybe. Stay still, ground yourself, and don’t look them in the eyes.”
Two smaller dragons stood on each side of the pit—one silver, the other grey. I had never seen dragons this small before, standing only about ten feet tall, nor had I seen a silver dragon. They exhaled steam and occasionally spat streams of fire across the pit, so I kept my distance to avoid provoking them. I kept my eyes lowered, avoiding their gaze. The rest of the squad smoothly climbed over the wall, appearing relaxed and at ease.
“What are we going to do?” Callum asked, looking around the squad.
“I believe we are supposed to crawl through the mud pit, stay under the wire, or we become dragon lunch…”
“You…you… you think they will eat us?” the timid, shy girl stammered.
“I can’t say they won’t, dragons do what they want, although dragons don’t typically pass judgment during the basic portion. Like this morning, it’s to toy with us, work our nerves.”
Callum turned around, looking at the cadet stuck. “What’s your name?”
“Beau.”
“Alright, I am going to go first and untangle Beau’s pant leg, and then once we start moving, two people can crawl in and start across. Don’t lift anything above the barbed wire, or they will burn you.”
Callum got on the ground and started crawling through the mud toward Beau. He reached out to him and pulled his leg free. “You’re free, maybe you will stick with the team for the rest of the course.”
Beau and Callum continued through the mud. Another cadet and I climbed into the pit and started, and just as we got fully in, I heard a loud grumble and felt blazing hot heat go over my body. My entire body froze, and I realized I held my breath. When the fire ceased, I turned my head to see if the other cadet remained in the pit with me. I drew a breath and decided to get the hell out. I crawled as fast as I could. Cadets sounded behind me, and I closed in on Callum.
We crawled out of the pit on the far side. The silver dragon turned its head, eyes narrowing, and exhaled a heavy blast of sulfur straight at me.
The stench scorched my throat, the heat blowing my hair back in a rush. My skin prickled under its stare. It wasn’t random—it was measured, deliberate, like it wanted to see if I’d flinch. A test.
The rest of our squad climbed out of the mud pit. Another wall stood ahead, about eight feet tall. We crossed as before, except the cocky cadet stayed with us this time. I climbed over and exhaled in relief. No living surprises waited on this side of the wall. Instead, a twenty-foot wall rose with boards for climbing up, and on the other side stood another wall with three ropes for climbing down.
One by one, our team made it over the wall. By this point, we were cheering each other on to keep going. The following section involved logs placed in a muddy area, just like the others. An instructor watched as we did it. A few of the guys started running and jumping over the logs smoothly and in coordination. The four of us girls finished it, though not quite as fast as the guys.
My legs were aching, my arms throbbing, every single joint screaming, my stomach roaring, and my throat parched. I silently prayed to anyone who would listen that we were near the end. I thought lunch might be over at this point. We came to another wall to climb over. This time, I let the shyer, calmer cadet, Ophelia, climb over first.
“Ahhhhhh!” She screamed, startling me, startling all of us.
“What’s going on?” Callum called over, now motioning for Beau to go next.
“I… ummm… I… I… I…” she stuttered out.
“Oh Shit,” Beau let out as he made it over the wall.
“Well, don’t leave us hanging over here?” I called over, preparing to go next.
