"Hmph ..." Alec backed away. He didn't expect Ryoe to attack from the left.
"Are you giving up?" his opponent asked with a grin.
"Never in your life, what do you expect ?!" Alec replied coolly and took a step forward. He still felt a little tired. They got up when the sun couldn't even be seen. Now she was slowly rising above the horizon, but was not yet visible behind the hills. Alec and Ryoe wanted to train undisturbed, so they had to get up early if nobody was on the training ground behind the castle. The mighty fortress loomed behind them like a giant rock and its thick walls were now gently warmed by the rising sun. Two watchtowers rose on the west side of the castle behind the outer wall and overlooked the entire area that was beyond the fortress. On the eastern side there were also two towers, each at the corners. This mighty castle seemed impregnable and was also used in the history of the 13th century.Kingdom never stormed. It was the first and would be the last fortress of the people. At least that's what Master said.
The city of Caen Aigion was the greatest city of the people and was surpassed in its beauty only by the capital of the elven kingdom El Ghor.
Alec looked behind him at the mighty castle in which he lived. His father was the king. King Etenor was the most powerful man in the whole human kingdom. Together with the elven queen Tamana and the dwarf leader Calva, he ruled the 13th kingdom. And you couldn't say that it was badly managed by them. There had been no war in the country for over 2000 years, together with the dragons they had freed the land from terror and destruction, but the dragons had left control of the land to humans, elves and dwarves and stayed out of the politics of monarchs out. Nonetheless, they were always good partners and had often saved people from attacks by the orcs, who had recently come to the country with increasing frequency and threatened the peace.Why the dragons did not want to rule the land together with the other peoples remained unclear. Nobody knew the dragons' goals. They were still puzzling.
Alec noticed that his thoughts were elsewhere and tried to concentrate on the fight again, he looked into the eyes of his opponent, who had also come a step closer. Ryoe's blond hair was blowing gently in the wind. It stuck out to the back and a few strands fell in front of his face. He had dark, determined eyes and sharp features, which gave him a wild, almost animal appearance. He didn't look particularly strong, but there were bear powers in his young muscles that no one would have suspected.
He looked like his character: wild, determined and very quick-tempered. With his increasingly unusual plans, he kept getting himself and Alec into trouble and gave everyone his opinion, no matter if simple peasant or nobleman. Even so, Ryoe was Alec's best friend, they had been together since childhood and complemented each other perfectly.You could have mistaken them for brothers, because they were inseparable and even shared a room.
Alec was completely different from Ryoe, though: he had brown hair and bright green eyes. His features were finer than his friend's and Alec didn't look as wild as he and could control himself better, but was just as determined as Ryoe.
Alec felt a slight tension as he approached his friend, something had changed. It seemed like the world was being torn apart and there was nothing he could do about it. From tomorrow his whole life would change.
"As you wish!" said Ryoe and took a step closer.
Alec shook off the absurd thought and tried to focus on the fight again. His hands were shaking and he had to focus all his thoughts on his sword in order not to wander again.
Ryoe attacked. With the sword loosely in his hand, he ran towards his opponent. Alec closed his hands even tighter on the hilt of his weapon.A bead of sweat ran down his forehead. He felt the cold streak on his face and threw away all thoughts that were floating around in his head. Slowly he was able to concentrate on the fight again. He thought that he couldn't lose now and took a determined step forward towards Ryoe. This came closer and closer and raised his sword to attack. They were only a few steps away from each other. Alec closed his eyes. Ryoe let his weapon slide down at the enemy in a flash of silver.
Now Alec opened his eyes and at the same moment yanked his sword up to parry his friend's blow. Sparks sparkled as the two swords met. Alec's blow came more brilliantly and so Ryoe's sword was hurled away in a wide arc, like a piece of gold it shone in the sun. Ryoe staggered backwards, dazed from the hard blow. He looked up and felt cold steel against his throat.“Won!” Alec grinned.
"Hrmpf ..." said his opponent and turned around. The sun had finally come out from behind the hills and bathed everything in soft red.
"We should go, otherwise my father will kill us ..." said Alec.
Ryoe yawned and looked ahead. It was probably better to leave the place now, after all, it was forbidden to stay here before sunrise. And the king was very strict in this regard.
"Mh ... let's hurry ..." They left the training field in quick steps and ran towards the castle.

The fortress was still asleep when they came into the courtyard. They crept past the horse stables and ran up the cold stone stairs to the east wing. There was silence there, not even the cooks were awake that day. They walked down a narrow corridor and stopped in front of their room as if ...
“I thought I saw someone in the yard!” A tall man appeared behind them.His stocky legs carried him out of the dark. He had tied his jet-black, shoulder-length hair in a ponytail and looked at her with a grim look.
"Gaan!" said Ryoe, trying to look amazed. "What are you doing here? You should be asleep, it's not even six o'clock yet."
"Pah, what about you? You've been training again! You know your Majesty won't allow that!" Gaan reprimanded him
"Hey, you can't tell us anything, I-"
“Stop it Ryoe!” Alec stepped forward. I'm sorry, it will never happen again! "He said and bowed to Gaan.
“I hope so too!” The giant prepared to leave, but then paused. "Oh yeah, your dad rescheduled a meeting for today and he liked you two to be there!"
"What kind of session is that supposed to be?" Ryoe asked curiously.
Gaan considered. "Well, I don't know much about it either. Just that he invited some of his best knights and many young warriors from the dragon school.""Hm, this session seems important ..." Alec said thoughtfully. He didn't have a good feeling about this. He remembered the training.
“Yes, yes, but now back to your room!” Gaan yanked the door open in front of them. "In with you!"
Alec and Ryoe reluctantly entered their room. The room was still in shadow. Both sides of the room were flanked by a bed, and the hard stone floor was carpeted.
A dragon crouched by the window and watched the sunrise. Its green scales shimmered in the dim light. He had wrapped his body, which was more than four meters tall, in his wings.
"Neo! Didn't you want to go hunt some birds?" Ryoe asked mockingly.
"Birds!" said the dragon in its own language and rose. His voice sounded like a hoarse growl. "I'm not wasting my breath on birds !!"
"Pffh, what are you going to waste it on then?" Ryoe looked at him with a grin.
"I smell something, the distance and adventure call us ..." Neo said mysteriously and put one of his paws to the window.Ryoe was silent because he couldn't understand anything anymore. Alec looked expectantly at the dragon, he had the same feeling as Neo.
He looked out the window. "Yes, the smell from afar."