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“Move your ass, beknet!”
My body lights up in pain as I fall on the trail path. Everything hurt, especially my head. The sun isn’t even up yet and we’re running 5 miles in full plate armor. A few other Scions kick me in my ribs as they run past. My flank feels like it is on fire and I fall back to the ground. Everyone in camp hates me, especially the other Scions. They all go out of their way to make sure I suffer. They steal my stuff, knock my food on the ground, and, literally, kick me while I’m down.
“Battalion, HALT!” Preknet Venyran shouted. My group stopped and held position, staring into the indefinite horizon. Pretentious asshats. I struggle to my feet when the Preknet shoves me into a standing position.
“Why did you stop running, Scion Borran?! You stop moving when I say you stop moving!” he shouted in my face as I held attention. I hear a few of the other scions snicker as I’m being made an example. Again. Venyran shouts again. “Well?!”
I swell my chest and feel my ribs light up again as I shout
“Sir! I tripped and fell, Sir!” Another Scion actually tripped me, but no one would believe me anyway. Venyran got within inches of my face with that. His musk invaded my nostrils as I tried to suppress a gag. He shouted again, why does he always shout:
“Oh! I didn’t know you were the Scion of STATING THE OBVIOUS!” That got a laugh from the whole unit, a mix of caws and barks. I wanted so badly to punch Venyran in his stupid red face. Instead, I was surprised when the Preknet turned towards the unit and yelled “Cut out that racket!”
The laughter immediately stopped, still as the twisted trees around us. We were in the Bramblewood, or as the locals liked to call it, The Bush. The Bramblewood was full of thick brambles along the trailways, trees dilapidated and unsettling. Everytime I came in here, I could swear something was watching me from behind twisted roots of brooding trees. Perfect place to scare some recruits straight. Not me though, never quite figured out the whole being straight thing. Preknet Venyran approached one recruit, a puma named Brynst and said
“Did you find something particularly funny, Scion Brynst?” Brynst was the worst of the bullies in the unit. He makes sure to find me after morning PT and help ‘train’ me. More like one on one torture. Calls it our ‘special time’. Venyran drives me up the wall, but Brynst? Makes me madder than a swarm of bees. Brynst could at least quit being such a tease. He flicked his tan tail, the black tip drawing a lazy circle. He said in a casual tone
“Sir no Sir. I just thought of a funny joke involving an alien.” The squad started laughing again, then quickly stopped as Venyran glared at the unit. Venyran refocused on Brynst and retorted,
“Well then, jokester. If you’re so funny, why don’t you lead the unit on another mile long laughter run?” I groaned with the rest of the unit, my breath fogging in front of my face. I only wish I could have seen Brynst’s face. It would have been nice to see his scarred lip shaped in anything but a smug grin. We remained at attention until Venyran shouted
“Garrun!” Which we all knew meant ‘Get out of my sight’. I started running again when Venyran shouted
“Not you, Scion. I want to have a word with you.” I wished upon the Good Lord to make this quick as I held position. I heard the squad clank away to the right, whistling some slow tune. I stared ahead at a knot in a tree while I waited for the verbal barrage. I wondered what kind of tree this was. Was it an oak? Or a pine? Or do they even have those types of trees in this world? And what do they call a damn tree in their language? I’ve got a decent grasp of the Zugoni language, but so much of it goes over my head. Pretty sure ‘beknet’ is idiot. Or moron. Something akin to being called a ‘dumbass’. Why couldn’t they just speak English for once?! My mind sours at that though and I feel a sinking feeling in my gut. English. What I spoke at home. What I still speak to myself as I fall asleep each night, my eyes wet with tears. Will I ever get to go home again? Or will I be stuck being yelled at in a language that no one gave me a guide to? I glanced up at Venyran with disdain. He was just standing there, his smug face partially hidden by the metal helmet he wore. His horns poked out the back of his helmet, their crimson points pointing with angular precision.
“I’m sorry,” he said. I could feel my brain doing hurdles as I tried to comprehend that my Preknet just apologized.
“What?” I quickly realized the error of my ways and fumbled
“Sir, I don’t understand sir!” Venyran took off his helmet and held it in the crook of his arm. It had two long charms on the metal plates on either side of his chin, a marking of his rank as Preknet. Venyran’s were a braid of red and black, similar to his own scaletone. We all wore similar silver armor, makes a good image for recruiting if we are ‘his knights in shining armor’. His face stoic, he said
“Cut the shit, Borran. It almost drives me insane this ‘forum’ I have to keep as Preknet.” I warily relaxed. Was this what the veterans in the movies called ‘freedom to speak freely’? Venyran nodded towards the squad that just marched away, their footsteps resounding through the quiet wood.
“You know the song they’re whistling?” Venyran asked. I shook my head.
“That’s the song that is played when someone is being carried to their grave.”
I felt a twinge of disappointment, but it faded quickly. You get punched so often, you learn how to roll with them. Venyran unclasped his water skin and offered it to me. I eyed it dubiously, then grabbed it and nearly drank it dry. They have us run our morning PT in full kit so we ‘get used to what it feels like in a real war’. All I know is I am really tired of this heavy armor going clank, clank, clank with every step.
He took his waterskin back and leaned against a tree, his tail scattering a pile of leaves on the ground.
“I really wish you would stop singling me out like this, Preknet.” I said, closing my eyes and letting out a deep sigh. His eyebrows-scalebrows?- furrowed as he stared me down.
“Singling you out, soldier? I’d call what the other Scions are doing to you as singling you out. You know they’re trying to weed you out, soldier. Want you to give up before they call it an ‘accident’.” he rumbled, staring at my side.
“You let it happen anyway, sir” I growled, feeling the frustration start to build up. “Just like all the other Preknets. And then you pull me aside and act like singing kumbaya will make it all better.”
Venyran furrowed his eyebrows further, crossing his arms and leaning off the tree. When he spoke, it sounded like boulders crashing down a mountainside.
“I do not treat you like a hatchling, Scion. And lest you forget, it was I who helped spare your life when you came to Zugonia. And what the hell is a ‘kumbaya’?!” I felt the frustration overflow and tip into rage.
“And you never let me forget it! Everyday I have to live through hell because you thought you would just ‘spare’ me! Do you know what it’s like waking up everyday in a world you don’t know and wonder ‘Gee, how many times am I going to be punched today?’ Or if I will ever get to see my family again?! Life would have been so much simpler if you had put me down like the dog I am. But now I have to dance around playing soldier all because you didn’t have the balls!” I would have felt very proud of that statement if his ruby fist didn’t crash into my cheek. My world spun as I recoiled from the strike. I always thought they were joking when they said you see stars after getting clocked. Turns out they were not joking, and neither was Venyran.I spun around from the contact and stared at Venyran in shock.
“What the hell?!” I exclaimed, feeling blood pooling in my mouth. I spat out a globule of red blood, a lighter hue than Venyran’s scales. Venyran glared golden daggers at me, an expression I am all too familiar with.
“You will not hold that tone with me, Scion. I am your Preknet, and I will throw you in the brig for insubordination if you mouth off like that again. The only reason things are not any worse is because of MY intervention.” he growled back, his rumbling voice resonating in my heart. His face was scrunched and full of fiery fury, a line frowned down the center of his forehead. Venyran’s talons curled into the dirt, cutting through packed dirt like it was paper. He was intimidating… Why do I like that a little? I dismissed that thought to return later.
“Sir, I just want to survive.” I said, my voice trembling.
“Every day is a battle, and I am tired of fighting tooth and nail just to live.” I felt my cheeks start to get wet, made worse by the chill in the air. I looked down and closed my eyes to collect myself; a soldier does not show his emotions on the outside, or whatever. I jumped a little when I felt a gauntlet grasp my shoulder and squeeze lightly.
“The life of a soldier is not an easy one. I shall not sympathize with you, but I can empathize with your plight. When I came to Zugonia from my homeland, everyone was quick to point out my faults. From things as small as my accent to claiming I would be a danger to my unit.” He scoffed.
“I remember when a little raptor said that I should go back before I killed them all like the bloodthirsty dragon I was. He used to call me a ‘Blood Dragon’, merely from my scales hue.” I opened my eyes and looked up at his glimmering eyes. He didn't look at me, it was like he was staring past me. I looked over my shoulder where he was gazing, but all I saw was creepy trees and ghastly bushes.
“Forget that.” Venyran said. “You need to focus on what matters: getting through the Path. Once you pass through the Path, you will be Ascion and earn a bit of respect.”
“Not that anyone will care.” I scoffed. “Everyone will always see me as an alien. As something foreign to be removed.” Venyran moved within inches of my face, why does he like being in people’s faces, and said,
“So give them a reason to respect you.” He held up a hand next to our heads.
“Grab them by their hatred,” he clenched his fist as he swept his pointed tail across the ground, scattering leaves into the wind. It would be nice to have a tail like that.
“And teach them to fear you!” I cocked my head back, a slightly amused expression on my face.
“You want me to fight back? After you said to ‘lay low, stalk like a panther and wait your time’?” I thought Venyran was a dragon, why did he look so sheepish right now? He shrugged
“Things change. When you make your stand, do so with purpose and intention. Manifest a warrior’s honor and strike with righteous fury.” I just stared at him. While it was nice to imagine punting Brynst in his stupid crotch, it’s hard to work up the energy to fight when my enemies have pushed me down deep. Something must have shown on my face, because Venyran sighed and laid another hand on my shoulder.
“I understand your plight. You did the right thing by listening to my advice to join the military. Just remember the end goal: become an Ascion. Then I'll see if I can pull some strings and get you within my deployment.”
“Because that won't be suspicious. My Preknet commanding the same unit I just joined as an Ascion.” I chuckled. It did make me smile a little ironically, which seemed to make Venyran content.
“We'll figure it out. Now go, catch up to the unit. Before they think I'm playing favorites.” He said, giving my ass a slap. I yelped as I started to jog. I couldn't help but laugh a little as I clanked away, wistfully thinking I might just survive this ordeal. I looked back and Venyran was still standing where we were, but he wasn't watching me. He was watching out into the woods.
That dragon is weird. I thought. Maybe he just wanted to be brooding. Certainly fit him. It had to be difficult to be a harsh Preknet on the outside while trying to keep an eye on me. I leaped forward a bit to avoid a hole in the ground as I followed the marching tracks back to my ‘squad’.
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He kept staring for a while, and I started to get nervous.
“He doesn't see me…” I thought as I kept still under the underbrush. My fur blended in with the wood around me, and the brush covered everything save my tail, which I kept deathly still. He doesn't see me, there's no way! But Preknet Venyran kept staring directly at where I was hidden. Eventually he turned away and suddenly started sprinting towards where the unit was. I let go of the breath I was holding and considering what I overheard. The Preknet knows that alien filth, and he's our superior officer?! I hissed quietly. That beknet belonged in a grave, not being someone's favorite pet. But that would have to wait. Too many eyes watching that prey right now. I got up and started running towards the unit. If I'm gone too long, people will notice. But the Bush is a dense tangle of roots, and those roots are my home. I leapt on top of a root and launched myself into the trees. I leapt from tree to tree with practiced ease as I descended into the Bramblewood.