Silence lingered in the air as Dustin came to a stop. Even the elders were giving him strange, conflicted looks. Amongst them all, Firebrand was the first to break the silence. “You know, I didn’t expect you to win. And you didn’t. But I am surprised you earned a draw.” She stated. Several heads nodded in agreement.

“I didn’t think I’d get that far either.” Darin admitted, being honest. A few of the whelps blinked in surprise.

“But you weren’t afraid of him, even with your wings clipped. You just went into battle like it was a walk in caves.” Greenie stated, remembering events under a different light. Even the red whelp was eying him now.

“I knew I was out matched.” He stated, glancing at Scorch. “But if I showed fear, he would have monopolized on it. If I acted rashly, he’d have taken me out in a few good hits. So I went in calmly and casually, using that to throw him off balance instead.” Darin stated, tossing his foe an apologetic look. Much to their surprise, Firebrand roared with laughter.

“In all my years, I have never seen someone run under their foe like that. I will admit it was a creative use of your size.” Dark Flame stated.

“I can’t believe you scorched him, down there.” The blue dragoness stated, trying not to laugh. “I might have wanted to do that very same thing to someone before. But that was the first time I’d seen it done.” Her words brought laughter from a few, but cringes from many others.

“The real problem right now-” Blood Claw began, looking right at Darin.

“Is that you’ve been a little too loose with your words, young one.” Dark Flame stated, traces of disapproval in his voice. The other elders nodded, leaving an uneasy feeling in the air. “You figured out more than most have ever bothered to. But by saying it aloud, you’ve removed an element of natural selection. Thus you’ve either saved, or tainted some of your fellow whelps.”

“Leave him be Dark Flames. He just spelled out what we’ve been trying to make obvious anyway. And you confirmed it all, when you scolded him about it.” Firebrand replied. When he tried to argue with her, she raised the ridge over her eye while staring at him.

“So less is left to chance now, and more depends on their common sense. I don’t see that as a problem. We’ll just keep an eye on this batch of whelps and see if they do better or worse over time.” The blue dragoness suggested.

“Very well, there isn’t much we can do to make them forget what he said. So I guess Blue Shark has a valid point.” Dark Flame stated, trying not to grin at the use of her name. She growled at him, annoyed at the use of her name. Blue Shark, what the hell does a dragon have to do to earn a name like that? Darin wondered.

“It’s already been said Shark, I know you don’t like your name but, they all heard it. While we are waiting for Dark Flame to show maturity, we still have two whelps who haven’t battled yet.” Blood Claw stated, looking to the green and blue whelps. “What are you waiting for?” She asked them. Catching their clue they rushed over the side of the pit to make their way down. A few seconds later, there was a cry of panic, and a loud thump echoed up from the pit. Joining the others at the edge of the pit, Darin looked down in disbelief. Far below them lay two dragons, entangled and splayed out at odd angles. Well, that must suck.

“Oh great, another draw.” Dark Flame commented, tossing a verbal barb at Darin and Scorch. “At least they got to it quickly this time.” He added, with no sense of shame.

“Well, there goes that test.” Blue Shark muttered, wondering to do about it.

“I don’t know, they did kind of make an impression.” Darin stated, unwilling to pass up a good joke.

“That’s the wrong kind of impression to make.” Firebrand stated in a serious tone. Then she cringed when Darin and a few others burst into laughter. His wordplay clicked a moment later and she groaned. “Ugh, I can believe I just walked into that…”

“And she fell for it too.” Darin added in mirth. Several others turned to him in disbelief. Blood Claw was the only one to laugh, with her warped sense of humor. Tough crowd, I didn’t even make a dent.

“So what was that about honor and how we act?” Scorch asked him, dealing a low blow. It caught him off guard and he froze with his beak wide open. He’d have countered with a fancy retort, if it weren’t true.

“If you two are done with nap time, come back up before we go to the next trial.” Dark Flame called down to them. It seemed the elders were serious about calling it a draw. A minute later, when all the whelps were gathered, Blood Claw covered them all in a breath of golden mist. It was a simple thing, but no one complained about having their wounds healed. Maybe I can learn that some day, Darin pondered.

“Normally I would have all of you fight further, to take better stock of you.” Firebrand stated. “But we’ve had three ties in a row, and only one of them was a good show. I’d rather not see more of that today.” The other elders nodded in agreement. Several of the whelps just looked down in shame.

“Trial of the Hunter?” Blood Claw suggested. There weren’t many trials left to choose from, and she seemed hopeful. If there was one thing in the universe that could always motivate the young, it was their stomachs.

“Lead on then, Den Mother. Let us see if this lot can hunt. Or if they would simply starve in the wilds.” Blue Shark agreed. There was something in her voice, that didn’t show confidence. While the others grew nervous at the prospect, Darin grew quite excited. It was quite possible that the hunting grounds were outside. And if took the main exit, he’d be able to see the forest with his own eyes. As the group marched on, Darin tried to memorize the pathways. After the first few minutes, he gave up realizing he would be hopelessly lost. The caves must have been expanded a great deal since the time of Ember and Shadow.

When they reached the exit to the hunting grounds, it was disappointing. Darin knew right away this was not the same exit. The old entrance had been a large room with a massive opening, which faced the world outside. The hunting grounds had but a small room, one that served as a guard post. The cave mouth was much smaller, forcing the elders to pass in single file. The moment they stepped outside, Darin was blinded by the light. He squinted and stumbled, beneath the blazing light of the sun.

“Are those your trees?” Greenie asked him. As his eyes cleared he looked about and shook his head. They were in a small enclosed valley, ringed on all sides by mountain ridges. There were trees here, but they looked wrong. This was something akin to a pine forest, he recognized that from other games. He doubted any of the trees reached more than 50 feet high. The trees seemed as small to him, as he seemed to other dragons. He realized that several of the others were looking at him.

“No. These are not the trees my ancestors hunted in. These are not the trees from my memories.” He stated. When they kept looking at him, he decided to elaborate. “In the forest that they kept, the trees were a good five times taller and much thicker. They were shaped more like oaks than these pines. And they-”

“Fir trees, these are fir trees not pines.” Spikey commented. Darin just shot him a dirty look and continued.

“Those trees grew fast with magic and they grew tall. They were spaced far enough apart that they’d never compete for sunlight and would never fully choke out the ground cover. These trees,” he gestured at them, “are growing where the seeds fell. They fight for the sun, they choke out the grasses that our prey feed upon and they fall into one another when they break.” He said with disgust. He didn’t have long to focus on his sorrows, as the elders would have none of it.

“If you are quite through with story time. We have a trial to partake of. Den Mother, if you would.” Firebrand stated, not caring much about the past.

“The trial of the Hunter is rather simple. You,” she paused to eye the whelps, “will hunt in the valley and make a kill. Once you have found and killed your prey, you will bring it back to us so that we may judge. You will all have one hour to hunt, you may bring back more than one prey. But if you bring nothing back, you will have failed.”

“And if it’s too heavy for me?” Darin asked, getting a few odd looks. The exchanged a few glances and in the end Blue Shark sighed.

“Fine, if you’ve made a kill and it’s too heavy call out to me. Sit on it and call out, and I’ll come collect it for you. Not that I expect you to get anything large, but it wouldn’t be fair to force you to hunt only rabbits and mice.” She grumbled. Her words caused more than a little laughter from his peers.

“Shadow was a very skilled hunter, his memories will serve me well.” It was something about the way he said it, as if stating a fact. There was no boasting in his voice and no trace of uncertainty. It caused all the laughter and mirth around him to stop.

“You’re being serious, aren’t you?” Greenie asked in surprise. He gave her a nod, in response. “So you remember hunting trips, from before you were hatched?”

“I already told everyone at the first test. I don’t see why anyone would be surprised to hear me say so now.” Darin stated, somewhat annoyed. They’d had enough laughs at his expense, they can’t have forgotten so soon.

“Well no. I just thought that was empty boasting. Since you are so small you might need to stretch your story a bit more.” Greenie explained. He shot her an angry look, so she looked away.

“If you did embellish your history a little, you wouldn’t be the only one.” Scorch admitted with a sigh. A few of the others looked away, finding something distracting in the distance.

“Wait, so after everything about names and honor-”

“Yea, I lied. Or at least, I stretched the truth a bit.” Scorch said, turning to face the elders. From his expression, it seemed like he expected a harsh punishment. “I’m sorry, I’ve brought shame upon myself with my actions.”

“Then you already know, you will not pass this time. But you know now what you must do in the trials next week?” Blood Claw asked him.

“Yes. I must train myself better first and act like a proper dragon, rather than a whining brat.” Scorch stated. Firebrand nodded her approval and the others followed suit. There was something odd about it though. There was no anger, no rage, no wrath…they weren’t even surprised.

“You already knew! All that shit I had to put up with, but you already knew who was lying and who wasn’t.” Darin blurted out, his anger getting the better of him. Firebrand sighed and exhaled a puff of smoke. Blood Claw cringed and looked away.

“Damn it!” Dark Flame cursed, turning to glare at Darin. “Didn’t we just have this conversation, in the other room?” This time, he looked right and truly pissed…

- - - - -

Author’s Note: So close, nearing the end of the trials. In some ways its not moving quite as fast as I expected. I hope you liked the chapter, it wasn’t an easy one to write. On a cheerful side note, I recently passed the 1000 views average line. I know that’s nothing compared to the big name stories, but from my humble start I’m glad to get there. As ever thanks for the feedback and encouragement.