“Well now, this certainly complicates matters.” Firebrand stated, looking from Darin to Dark Flame. Blood Claw remained silent for now, but wore a pained expression. She seemed to be deep in thought. Several of the other whelps, were moving about with nervous tension. The silent question, how much else had they screwed up, hung in the air. All the while, Dark Flame looked ready to demonstrate his name sake.

“Well, we never did tell them any of it was a secret. Nor have we sworn him to silence on anything, yet.” Blue Shark pointed out, earning her an irate glare from Dark Flame. Despite his ire, the others seemed to agree.

“In my years, I have seen many smart whelps and many stupid whelps. But it is rare, that I see a whelps so smart, that they act stupid.” Firebrand stated. She wasn’t laughing as she said it, but a few whelps laughed when they heard it. In response, Darin could only droop his wings and lower his head a bit.

“He’s still made a mess of things. And we need to tend to this damage, before it spreads.” Dark Flame reminded them.

“And you’d probably fix the issue, by culling the whole batch. Or perhaps you’d simply cull the brightest in the batch, to make sure dragons in general stay as dumb as you? I’m sure the Mother would be pleased with that.” Blue Shark responded, not bothering to hide the venom in her voice. The black dragon was ready to turn on her, when Firebrand interrupted.

“You know she’s right. Your quick and dirty solutions to everything would earn our Mother’s wrath. But we do have other, less wasteful ways to deal with this issue. Don’t you agree Blood Claw?” She asked, dragging the den mother into the conversation.

“Give me a moment to think.” Blood Claw requested, taking a moment to ponder before bring up a system window. “All of you.” She addressed the whelps as she began typing. “Do you so swear, in the name of the Mother, not to reveal the secrets behind the trials? You may still use what you have learned to better yourself, but you may not share it with others.” As she asked them, she finished typing and her box vanished.

Oath of Secrets.

You have learned things that you should not. You must keep these things secret, for the good of all. You take this Oath in the Mother’s name. Should you break this Oath, the results shall be most dire.

Completion condition: Do not share the secrets behind the Trials of the Nameless for 1000 years, or until they become common knowledge.

Reward: You continue to exist.

Failure condition: Break the Oath.

Penalty: You will earn the Mother’s wrath. She takes betrayal very poorly.

“Agreed.” Darin stated, causing the message to clear. It seems they took the Trials very seriously. A few moments later, the other whelps had all accepted their Oaths. There was a lot of tension in the air, and even a bit of anger. From the looks the other whelps were giving him, none of them appreciated the additional burden. As ever, the strongest force in the universe seemed to be Darwinism.

“You asshole.” Spikey snarled at Darin. “Do you know how much I could have traded that information for?” He asked, earning him glares from the elders. “Do you know how many favors I could have earned, just for information about the lie detector?” He demanded, in a show of grand stupidity.

“Silence!” Blood Claw warned, but already it was too late. Everyone watched in surprise and horror, as an image of a golden ring appeared above his head and shattered. Multiple simultaneous bolts of lightning struck where the black whelp had been standing, blinding all who watched. When his vision cleared enough to focus, only scorch marks and black smoke remained where the whelp had been. All the whelps stepped back involuntarily, then shot Darin and Blood Claw looks of horror.

“He broke his oath and brought it upon himself. No one else is to blame, for his lapse of honor and judgment.” Firebrand stated, shaking her head in disbelief. She looked up and glanced at each of the whelps in turn a moment later. “I take it, that all of you will take your oaths more seriously?” She asked. No one dared to argue.

“You were right.” Dark Flame stated, looking quite pleased. “This is a much more enjoyable way to resolve the issue. Would anyone else care to give me a light show?” He asked, relishing their fear. When no one responded or broke their oaths, he turned to Darin with a sadistic grin. “Now that you’ve killed off one of your foes. Have you learned to shut up yet? Or are you perhaps looking for ways to get rid of the others?”

Bastard! He’s clearly enjoying this. Darin shook his head no, unwilling to trust his voice just yet. His eyes must have given his feelings away as the elder scoffed and looked away.

“A shame,” Dark Flame began, “I was just starting to find you amusing. Oh well, at least you saved me an of hour waiting on the hunt.” A few seconds of silence followed his statement. It seemed no one else agreed with his particular brand of humor. A moment later, a somewhat disheartened Blood Claw turned to Darin.

“You, go first. Take down your prey and carry it back, or call out to us if it’s too heavy.” She told him. He opened his beak to say something, but she cut him off. “Save it. Shut up and hunt.” She commanded, doing her best to keep her emotions out of her voice. Darin didn’t want to argue, he’d just cost her one of her charges. Even if, it was a really stupid one.

“One hour.” Firebrand reminded him, as he took flight.

“I wonder if he knows-” Was all he heard behind him, as he flew out of earshot. knows about what? He wondered, as he began to soar over the forest of pines. He realized by the sights and smells that it was early in the year, spring perhaps. The plants were thriving, but the whole forest smelled of old pine needles. It was musty, nothing like his own forest. I better make it quick, so I can get out of here. He hadn’t seen any prey from above the trees yet, so he may need to fly lower to see more clearly.

A shrill cry behind him, let him know that something had seen him. A glance over his shoulder showed him a ugly red bird was following. It also gave him the moment he needed to use identify.

Blood Vulture, Level 5.

“Great. Just what I needed.” He grumbled, before looping back in a wide arc to meet his. The creatures must have worked by a detection radius, as he looped back to his target, two more screeched and took flight. He didn’t have time to look back as he was closing with the first vulture. Just before impact, the vulture pulled up to bring its talons into play. Darin folded his wings and dove under it, filling the air above him with flames. A horrid noise filled the air as his attack landed, causing excited cries from the other vultures. He spread his wings again and spared a glance at his combat logs. It was hard not to be pleased, with what he saw there.

Attack, Critical Hit: You deal 31 damage, status inflicted Burning, status inflicted Burning Feathers.

Burning: You deal 15 damage.

Burning: You deal 16 damage.

“I guess they don’t have fire resistance.” He pondered aloud. He’d gotten more distance, and a few more damage indicators, before the sounds changed. He looked back over his shoulder, and was so startled he lost altitude and almost slammed into a tree. Instead of following him the other two Blood Vultures had turned on their weakened brethren. It tried to defend itself, as each bit down on a side and started draining the life from it. He steadied his flight to a hover, and watched in horror. Together, they drained it of blood and dropped the corpse to the forest floor. Full and happy, the remaining vultures flew back to their own nests. “Maybe I’ll try flying below the canopy.” He muttered.

Dropping to only 10 feet above the ground, he was forced to fly at a much slower pace. While pine trees loved to shed their lower branches, there were plenty of exceptions. Several large branches near ground level had been broken off, leaving a forest of natural spears aimed at the unwary. He had little doubt of what would happen if he flew into one by mistake. This place is annoying, he grumbled in silence. He flew around for several minutes, until he heard sounds of animals in the distance. Heading that way, he spotted a fair cluster of deer-like creatures. Much to his disappointment, and despite the time of year, the males still wore their antlers. He was ready to mimic Shadow’s hunting skills, but at this height, he was spotted too soon. A cry of alarm sounded from one of herd, causing Darin to cringe. Much to his surprise, the creatures didn’t flee. Instead the males gathered towards him and formed ranks. “Identify.” He mumbled, focusing on one in the center. There was no longer any reason to remain silent.

Guardian Buck, Level 12.

Five of the bucks in the center, lowered their heads in unison and snorted. Oh shit! For a second or two, no one moved. Darin was debating retreat, when they all dashed at him. He had no doubt that a single one of these creatures could do him in, if he gave it a fair fight. But five of charging together looked like a scene from a horror film. In a panic, he flew to the side, only to have them change their course to match. He ducked behind a tree for shelter, and gained height as fast as he could. A loud crash could be heard, and the tree smacked into him. Below him, two deer passed on each side, looped wide and returned to the herd. A quick glance at his combat log confirmed his fear.

Attack: You deal 20 damage.

Guardian Buck has dealt you 1 damage.

“So if I cause damage indirectly, I still get attributed with the damage. Useful to know. I guess I should be careful what I set on fire then.” Taking one look at the angry buck below him Darin shook his head. “I’ll go find something a bit closer to my level.” He declared and took off, flying away from the herd. Much to his displeasure, the beast kept following him. By the time Darin had regenerated his missing HP, he realized the Buck had no range limit. It had taken damage in their battle and was not so quick to forgive. “So what the hell am I going to do with you?” He asked it. In response it snorted and shook it’s antlers at him. He’d already wasted a good 15 minutes of his hour. Even if he managed to escape the beast, he doubted he would have much time left to hunt. With a sigh, he started to circle the buck looking for openings. The beast however was careful to keep it’s antlers between them. He tried flying over it, but it reared up on it’s hind legs and almost impaled him. “Bastard.” He cried, shooting flames at it no avail. The fire didn’t even singe the antlers, ruling out his favorite attack.

Darin flew up and landed on a branch in frustration. How the hell am I-shit. He leapt off the branch and took flight, just before the Buck rammed the tree. His combat log updated again, and the beast glared at him with hatred. Maybe this wont be so hard after all, he mused. Flying across the small gap, he landed on the branch of another tree and waited. The beast scuffed the ground and snorted. Much to his disappointment, it refused to make the same mistake again.

Adaptive AI. Great, just great.

- - - - -

Author’s notes: I hope you enjoyed the chapter and sorry for ending the chapter before the battle ends. Honestly, it seems like the best time to do so with what’s ahead. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and that no one was overly fond of Spikey. Chapter 27, means I’ve been writing and posting for 28 days straight. My goal is at least a month, and from then on to make writing part of my normal life. I just went back and cleared the Author’s Notes out of my previous chapters in my editor program. It tells my I have over 51,000 words written, but it lies. BBCode tags are probably 2-3 thousand words. Still, that’s pretty sweet so don’t mind if I do a happy dance. As ever, thank you for the positive feed back and encouragements. As ever; Comments, corrections, feedback, follows, favorites and reviews(especially ones with depth), are always appreciated. Thank you all!