Dragon Assassin Academy - Year 1 Read online

  T. M. Caruana

  Dragon Assassin Academy - Year 1

  Copyright © 2021 by T. M. Caruana

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  T. M. Caruana asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  T. M. Caruana has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

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  Contents

  1. CHAPTER 1

  2. CHAPTER 2

  3. CHAPTER 3

  4. CHAPTER 4

  5. CHAPTER 5

  6. CHAPTER 6

  7. CHAPTER 7

  8. CHAPTER 8

  9. CHAPTER 9

  10. CHAPTER 10

  11. CHAPTER 11

  12. CHAPTER 12

  13. CHAPTER 13

  14. CHAPTER 14

  15. CHAPTER 15

  16. CHAPTER 16

  17. CHAPTER 17

  18. CHAPTER 18

  19. CHAPTER 19

  20. CHAPTER 20

  21. CHAPTER 21

  22. CHAPTER 22

  23. CHAPTER 23

  24. CHAPTER 24

  25. CHAPTER 25

  26. CHAPTER 26

  About the Author

  1

  CHAPTER 1

  “We are proud Earth Walkers, and here at Dragon Assassin Academy you’ll not only learn how to slay dragons, you’ll also learn the craftsmanship of healing other creatures. Perhaps even a Dragon, if he or she possesses information that you deem vital for our people.”

  As Guardian Wilson’s voice continued preaching on about the Earth Walkers’ splendour, my thoughts began drifting off. It wasn’t that the lesson was boring, but I had heard every line at home, several times. I was pretty sure that every single student in my class had also heard this lecture many times over. As Earth Walkers, mere humans with healing powers, we had been raised from infancy with the knowledge of how to eviscerate our sworn enemy – the dragon clan.

  The veteran warrior, who had become a Guardian donkey years ago, walked between sparring students who were eager to show off their skills.

  I was beginning to lose focus, having inhaled the stale air in the hall for an hour, not a good sign considering this was my first week at the Academy. I blinked heavily a few times, to fight the fatigue that threatened to overtake me and looked around the room. My fellow students were listening to every word Guardian Wilson said, staring at his blue eyes behind those trendy glasses. His face was as smooth as a baby’s bottom and not a single strand of his shoulder-length hair lay out of place.

  I exchanged a look with Hannah, my best friend and sparring partner, who stood next to me and raised one of my eyebrows questioningly at her. Smiling, she shrugged, as if excusing our ambitious schoolmates. Hannah had eyes that could kill, with a hard thick line of black eyeliner around them. The days she felt really fierce she painted her eyebrows black too and it contrasted like night and day against her almost white hair.

  “And it’s extra important to pay attention in Healing Class considering we’re always at war.” The voice of our professor reverberated around the stone walls, making the word war echoing itself - war-ar-ar-ar.

  It projected an ominous feeling that made me shiver. I knew he had worked tirelessly to train students for decades. It had been four years since the last war with the dragon clan, and with every passing year, the enmity between the clan and the Earth Walkers intensified. The council had started to stir and had recently announced that now more than ever, there was a necessary need to train as many assassins as we could.

  The third year students at the Dragon Assassin Academy were supposed to be trained enough to protect themselves against the dragon shifters. But many didn’t make it back from their missions alive. It was obvious that Guardian Wilson was severely affected by the slaughter of his students at the North Wall of the kingdom, where the top students fought against the dragon attacks from beyond.

  It was common knowledge that, apart from the North Wall, the Dragon Assassin Academy and the Royal Castle were the two most exposed points of attack and inside those locations we had the fighters who were regarded as the biggest threat to the dragons’ existence. The two buildings stood side by side, coated in glorified black marble said to have been blessed by the Six Holy Elders to withstand the heat of dragon’s fire. The substance had also been made into shields, however it didn’t help all that much when the air strikers came shooting down at us like fire lit spears from the heavens. The wall around the kingdom was robust, but could crumble too just by the flick of a dragon’s tail.

  In the distance, I could see through the large windows of our classroom, how the flying monsters were patrolling the perimeter leading into their territory. These were the Elites, the Dragon Shifters who had the strongest physique of them all as it took a lot of their powers to transform fully into dragons. Not everyone of them had such strength and most only managed to bring out their horns and wings.

  Their shrieks made me shiver each time they shot through the sky, and the pit of my stomach tightened. But I also felt a calling to go towards them at the same time, which made me want to vomit; it made me so scared.

  It was true that a new war simmered on the horizon; it would be big, I could tell by the way Guardian Wilson walked around the school, looking agitated and unsettled. Each passing day, his honour as a teacher was further crushed by the mounting deaths of the students during his watch.

  “Jade. Stop fooling around!” Guardian Wilson exclaimed over the clattering noise of Martial Arts practice.

  I sighed and reached out to pull Hannah onto her feet again, and sent her an apologetic glance.

  Guardian Wilson hurried over, his white costume worn but neatly pressed. He speared me with his eyes and I could see black hollows underneath them.

  “Today we’re practising certain techniques. You’re not supposed to dance your opponent into submission.”

  A few scattered laughs filled the room until our teacher silenced them with his glare.

  “Yes, Sir. But I didn’t find a palm strike or a hook punch necessary, since I won anyway,” I mumbled, eyes on the ground.

  “Do as you’re told. You’re not getting any special treatment, just because you know how to fight!” he shouted, turning his back on me, “Just because you’re the best fighter we’ve ever had.”

  The last sentence had me grinning. It was true. I was good, the best in our year. Everybody knew it and sometimes, my pride soared because of it. Even before I joined the academy, my father had trained me ruthlessly in all the
classes necessary. He had been a Guardian for many years and was expecting me to take his place at the council one day.

  “Class dismissed!” Guardian Wilson called.

  Everyone finished what they were doing, let down their guards and hit the showers.

  “He seems stiffer than normal,” Hannah gossiped into my ear as we walked the corridors towards the changing room.

  “I guess he has lived through the ugly truth beyond the North Wall. Maybe the rumours are true, maybe the dragons are actually coming for us this time.”

  “Don’t say that, it makes my blood run cold. Imagine seeing a dragon shifter up close. I would definitely forget all that Guardian Wilson has taught us.”

  “Relax, we’re first years, we still have a long way to go before we get the opportunity to kick some dragon ass.”

  The chatter was on a high level when we entered the changing room. All the girls had sort of claimed their own spot so Hannah and I walked over to our squeezed in space on one of the planked benches along the long side wall. Simultaneously, we crossed our arms, grabbed a hold of the hem of our tops and pulled them over our heads before hanging them on the hooks.

  “I’m starving after that class; you kicked my ass so hard I won’t be able to sit for a week. Let’s go get something in the cafeteria before the next lesson.”

  I giggled as I stripped out of my leggings. “I was just warming up.”

  “I know you were taking it easy on me, but I’m hungry nonetheless. I think I have a growth spurt or something. I’m hungry all the time.”

  “Maybe your mouth is growing bigger. I can’t see that anything else has changed,” I said, eyeing her shamelessly even though she was naked.

  “Shut up! My breasts are definitely bigger, right?”

  I shook my head as I rolled my eyes and passed by her to head for the showers.

  I closed my eyes as I let the warm water wash down my hair, rinsing the stale air from the sparring room off my skin. I heard the shower next to mine start and didn’t have to open my eyes to know Hannah had lined up to my right. I looked at her and met her worried gaze.

  “What do you think a dragon would do to us if it caught us?” Hannah asked, rubbing soap all over.

  “Not invite us for a barbecue, that’s for sure.”

  “Unless, we’re the ones being turned to charcoal.”

  Her humour made me smile, but the truth of it made my nerves knot.

  I poured shampoo into my hand and massaged it into my scalp. “I’d rather have a dagger straight to the heart.”

  “I’d rather live!”

  “I thought our hypothetical discussion didn’t allow for that option.” I applied the conditioner and rinsed it out quickly.

  Hannah sighed. “I suppose the real situation won’t have that option either.”

  I walked to the hooks where I had my towel and wrapped it around me. “What’s the matter with you all of a sudden, being afraid of death?”

  Hannah came strolling after me. “I’m not scared of dying. I’m going to be the best Dragon Assassin the Academy…the world has ever seen, and have the dragon bastards kiss my ass if they ever plan to come near it.”

  I brought out my uniform from my bag to put it on and buckle the belt with my sword around my waist. “You’re going to have to fight me for the title. Dragons will have to line the street to take turns to kiss my ass.”

  We both laughed, even though we knew that dragons weren’t a laughing matter; they were very dangerous. Dressed, we swung our backpacks up onto our shoulders and headed for the cafeteria. Just outside, a dragon shriek penetrated the wind and we both fell to our knees for protection, so close I could smell the damp cobble stones. Looking up towards the sky, I couldn’t see anything.

  Guardian Wilson came down the alley though, so we stood up quickly.

  “Dragons!” he muttered aloud, as we passed him.

  Yes, dragons. They were the stronger Elite warriors who fully transformed, the others saved their energies and used less exertion by only bringing out their wings and horns.

  We carried on walking. The entrance to the alley was large enough that the wind swirled around and it continuously slapped my face. The low building of the cafeteria was squashed between two round towers with peaked domes soaring up into the sky. Hoisted on top of them was a flag consisting of the Dragon Assassin Academy’s emblem of a shield with two swords crossing each other. At the moment it fluttered feverishly in the strong winds sweeping in from the east.

  On the verge of turning the knob of the cafeteria’s door, the creaking sound of old hinges made me stand back. The door opened, but there didn’t seem to be anyone at the other end of the entrance. I stuck my head into the gap, and right behind the door was the most feared man in the school: Custodian McPherson.

  “Oh! Jade. There you are,” Custodian McPherson commented with a resounding tone.

  Oh no! You found me!

  The way he spoke made it certain that he had searched all around the school for me. I twirled around him to get out of the wind outside as if I was in a hurry to get to the canteen. Hannah was at my back like a shadow. Before I could get away, Custodian McPherson stuck his bearded face close to mine. His crystal blue eyes and the milk white hair made him look like a ghost that would haunt me forever.

  “Are you trying to avoid me, Miss White?” Custodian McPherson’s baritone voice boomed around the entire hall.

  He didn’t let go of the hard stare, which made me all the more uncomfortable.

  I tried to form my mouth to move, to say something in response to what the custodian had asked, but no words came out.

  Shit, I’m busted!

  What punishment would he give me for skipping his class, which had been at a ghastly early hour this morning?

  2

  CHAPTER 2

  “Next time you skip Dragon Poison class, I’ll give you extra work. It’ll involve, guts, blood and digging out eyeballs. Understood?”

  I had heard the tales about his cruelty, so I swallowed and only nodded meekly.

  “Good,” he barked before barging out of the cafeteria.

  I breathed out and looked around. It was a gloomy morning so all of the tables were filled with students not feeling in the mood to go to class. While there were a lot of murmurs peppering the space, making the volume ear-splittingly high, the cafeteria’s far end tables had many injured Dragon Assassins sitting in silence. Guardian Sherlove, Guardian Smith, and Guardian Nelson’s faces were lifeless, probably mourning lost friends in battle.

  Hannah and I bought a roll and a bottle of water from the counter and took a seat by the window.

  “I can’t believe I get crap, but no one even mentions that you don’t wear your uniform. Seriously, your dress sense is getting worse by the day.”

  “What’s wrong with this?” she mocked, knowing it wasn’t my style and leaned over even further to show off her cleavage.

  Entirely in black from neck to boots, she looked like a dead Earth Walker reborn, come to fetch me to join her in the Underworld.

  “Well, at least your eyes are green. Some colour to contrast from your night camouflage suit,” I added.

  “If you look up the word ‘best friend’ in the handbook, it says you should be supportive.”

  “I am supportive! How much more honesty could I give? You dress like death. Would you rather I lied? I don’t think that is what it says in the handbook.”

  “Fine, I’ll teach you: Jade, you look hot. That blue top really suits you, it brings out the deep blue in your eyes and your soft black hair cascades like the darkest waterfall over your back.”

  “Well, someone has been studying the handbook carefully.”

  Show-off!

  I was about to attempt a compliment but got my words stuck as I saw the Custodian come back into the hall. As soon as he stepped into the cafeteria, the murmuring stopped for a few seconds. We could see Guardian Wilson was right behind him.

  Hannah leaned in closer. “So
mething strange is going on today.”

  The murmuring continued until Custodian McPherson cleared his throat in a call for attention.

  “There is a rumour that some guardians, in conspiracy with some students, are planning an attack beyond the North Wall without appropriate authorisation.”

  Guardian Wilson followed him like a stupid duckling, as they continued walking to the centre of the cafeteria. As they strode past the students, Guardian Wilson scanned all our faces. Obviously, he wanted to see if anyone was giving anything away in their expression, but as far as I could see, there was nothing to decipher from anyone’s hard exterior.

  “Don’t think for one second that I take the attacks from the dragons lightly. It’s with a heavy heart that I stand here before you today to confirm the deaths of our brothers and sisters at the North Wall last night. But rogue revenge rebuttals will not lead to anything other than more deaths. Without full training, the odds of surviving a fight against a dragon are slim. Focus on your studies instead and let the school board deal with decisions regarding assassins’ formations.”

  When the custodian was done with his speech, the indiscreet chatters continued for a bit, and then someone from the midst of the crowd raised a hand.

  “Alright, introduce yourself and let us all hear what it is that you have to say.”

  Everyone seemed to tilt like a wave in the direction of the Dragon Assassin who wanted to say something to the man who all the students revered so much they were scared of him.

  “Seems like some unknown assassins are too courageous for their own good.”

  Custodian McPherson moved closer to where the assassin sat, looking sternly into his eyes and smiled. One could sense the guilt that lurked on the face of the white-looking beast. The dragon assassin who had spoken was a large man and judging by his size, would not be intimidated by someone like Custodian McPherson. But we had all heard the hideous stories about him; how he had taken out a whole platoon of Elite dragon shifters by himself.