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Description
   8 - Tough days full of joy

   While the dragon was getting lower and lower, Julian couldn't stop staring. There were men, adults, talking to the dragons near the wooden houses or training a small group of teens like Julian. All of them carried swords. The dragon landed on his hind legs, when a man came running towards them, smiling. He was around Jonas's age and had a friendly face. The dragon's forepaws had barely touched the ground when Julian's brother jumped off his back. The two men greeted each other and started talking silently, laughing occasionally. Julian was watching his brother from the dragons back.
   "Will you get down on your own or will I have to shake you off?"
   Surprisedly Julian faced the red eyes of the dragon, who was looking at him and stuttered.
   "Uhm... I... I will get down."
   Quickly Julian slid from the dragons back. We fell the two meters from the dragons back and when he landed, he lost his balance, and nearly fell. Jonas and the stranger, who had been watching, broke into laugh. Julian only grumbled something and walked over to them. When he reached them he nearly fell again, when the wind, caused by the wings of the black dragon, which was taking off again, hit him in the back.
   "Not used to something like that, huh?" The stranger asked.
   "Well", Julian answered, "I've been living with a dragon for most of my live, but no."
   The boy looked at his brother, demanding an explanation. The man didn't understand at first, but then he winced and quickly said. "I forgot my manners. Julian, this is Cole. Cole, this is our newest recruit Julian." He grinned. "Cole is one of our instructors. He will be the one, who trains you."
   We shook hands.
   "Yeah", Cole said, "I train the new ones. You're a little late, the others have already picked up the pace, but I'll see what I can do to integrate you into the group. It will be hart, but I'm sure you can manage it. Tomorrow I will test you, so I will see how advanced you are and what you still need to learn."
   I nodded. For a moment no one talked and a solid wall of silence built up between them.
   "Before I forget it. Jeremiah wanted to see you as soon as you return." Cole suddenly said to Jonas, who looked up surprised.
   "But I need to show him around."
   "I will do that, you should better hurry. You know how easily he becomes angry."
   "Right." Julian's brother paused, and then turned to face his younger brother. "I don't want to, but I need to see Jeremiah. Cole will show you where you can stay. I will be back soon and then I will show you the rest of the place." He looked at Cole, who nodded, and then he was gone. Julian watched him go until he disappeared behind a large building. Cole shrugged.
   "He seems to like you." He said. "You're not the first one he recruited and he has never showed anyone around. You can feel honored." Cole grinned at me, obviously being ironic.
   "I will remember that." Julian said and started walking, until he remembered, that he didn't know where to head. He stopped and turned to wait for Cole to come over.
   "Well you seem to want to get to the point." Cole laughed. "I guess that's good for you. It will help you in the training." He started walking and Julian followed. "Don't think it will be easy. We only pick the best from the best and even most of then only serve as mere servants for the dragons!"
   Julian swallowed, but even so he answered confidently.
   "I think I can handle it." Cole laughed again.
   "That's a good start!"
   They entered one of the large buildings and Julian curiously looked around. They were standing in a large foyer and there were small groups of people standing around talking. There was a fireplace, which wasn't used at the moment and grey ashes lay in it's middle. A big stair led to the upper floor. The walls and the floor were made of solid wood.
   "The recruits sleep down here. The instructors and warriors, including Jonas and myself, sleep upstairs." Cole explained shortly.
   He greeted some of the men and walked over to a door.
   "This is the sleeping room for you teens."
   The instructor opened the door and Julian stepped through first. The room was long and filled with wooden beds. Most of them were neat, only occasionally the bed-sheets were unorganized. The mattresses were thin and seemed uncomfortable, but Julian hadn't expected luxury. He was used to sleep in an old, worn mattress. In front of each bed was a footlocker which held the personal things of the recruits, Julian guessed. Over all Julian counted twelve beds, six on each side of the small corridor between them. It felt like home.
   "Well," Cole said, "you can sleep here." He pointed at one of the beds.
   Julian sat down on the mattress. Despise all it was soft. The boy smiled.
   "That will do." He said.
   "Have you expected something else?" Cole asked and raised an eyebrow.
   "Not at all."
   The instructor nodded and walked to a small window at the end of the rows of the bed. He turned his head, when he noticed that Julian hadn't followed him and signaled him to come. The boy looked through the window, which had no glass and saw the training field. The metallic sound of swords hitting each other wafted over to us.
   "I expect you down there at sun-rise." Cole said and pointed at the corner of the field. "Now you will stay here and wait for Jonas to come back. As your friend I would say enjoy your free evening, but as your new instructor I tell you to go to bed early. Tomorrow will be a tough day." He waved a good-bye and left the room.
Julian quickly got bored. He sat down on his bed and waited for his brother to return.
He heard the kids before he saw them. Suddenly a group of seven teens stormed into the room and their loud chattering filled the air. Julian was impressed by how normally it felt. He was sitting in a dragons headquarter, the teens in front of him were training with swords each day, training to kill, but even so the teens laughed, jabbered and shouted just like in his normal school. One of the teens hurried by and stopped as he saw Julian.
   "Hey," He said, his words were barely hearable over the loud chatter, "who are you?"
   "Oh," Julian answered, he didn't want to draw any attention on himself, "I'm just the new one. I arrived just today." He stuttered.
   The other kid started to grin and waved to the others.
   "Hey guys, it seems like we have a new room-mate here!" He shouted and the others came over.
  The kids started to ask questions, but they shouted all at once, so Julian couldn't understand a word. The kid that had noticed him first just shrugged and waited for them to come down again. Julian used the time to have a look at his new mates. All of them seemed to be in top shape and almost all of them seemed stronger than any bully on his former school. Even so Julian thought he would be able to keep up with them. When they finally fell silent he sighed and stepped in front of the crowd, as if he was the leader.
   "Well let me present you our training group." He pointed at a slim boy, who seemed to hide behind the others. "Well this is Flint." He pointed to another one. This time a muscular, bulky guy, who immediately stood out of the group. "This is Graham, but we all call him muscle."  The next teen he pointed at was sternly looking, but his eyes were filled with a friendly glow. "This is Joker; I don't even know his real name. If you see him you think he is mean, but he is a great guy." Like this he gave all the new faces names and Julian tried to remember all of them. When the teen, who still hadn't presented himself pointed at the last one, who stood a little apart from the others he said: "And here is our only girl in the group, Cathleen." She was tall and had long, black hair. Her she seemed pretty, but the look in her eyes was so hard that Julian recoiled from her. "And I am," He paused to raise the tension. Some of the others rolled with their eyes. "I am Ando. What I still don't understand is why they had put you with us. Usually the new ones are too slow and too weak to get in a more advanced group. We all are here for more than a year already. I doubt that you can keep our pace." Julian shrugged.
   "Well," he said, "Cole want's to test me tomorrow, to see what I'm capable of."
   "That explains a lot. So it seems that this will be your only night here. Tomorrow you will sleep with the new ones, but I still don't understand why he hadn't brought you there from the start."
   "Maybe it's because I had some contact with the bad guys already."
   "How do you mean that?" Ando said and raised an eyebrow, it reminded Julian of Cole.
   "Well, before I got here me and Jonas were fighting with an agent…"
   Suddenly all of the teens started shouting questions, getting louder with each second. Ando wanted to ask something, too, but shut his mouth, when he noticed that he would have no chance to actually be heard. Julian used the time to have a look at him. Ando was very similar to Cole, so much that Julian suspected that they were somehow related, maybe brothers. Despite the others he seemed surprised by the news, but not that astonished. Slowly the teens calmed down again. Ando turned to the others.
   "Would you please stop that? Every time you shout all at once my head hurts." He turned back to Julian. "How does it come that you fought an agent and escaped with life? That's something not everyone can hope for. That you fought with Jonas may be an explanation, but I still want to know how."
   "Well Jonas recruited me and the agent must have followed him." In quick sentences he summed up everything that happened during their escape, leaving out his talk with Jonas while they rested for the night.
   "Wow," Ando said when Julian had finished. "That's a great story, but why should I believe you?"
   "Because I say so." Jonas had appeared in the door.
   The others gasped and stared at the warrior.
   "Would you please come with me?" Jonas said and signaled Julian to follow him.
   When they left the room and the other teens couldn't hear them anymore, Jonas suddenly stopped and turned to his brother.
   "When we are here you should treat me with more respect. I am one of the higher warriors, which means that I am one of the highest ranked warriors. If you don't want that people laugh about me then I would suggest that you talk to me as if I were your boss."
   Julian nodded. He understood that because they didn't want their secret revealed Julian had to show the usual respect for a superior. Jonas nodded, too. He didn't expect an answer.
   "Ok then I should show you around."
   They left the barracks and walked through the complex. They joined a group of men, who were coming from the training-field. So they couldn't talk about it anymore and Jonas was forced to be the strict warrior again. They entered a large corridor and followed it into a strange room. The room was huge, with long tables where the humans could sit, but the far wall was missing.
   "This is the dining hall. Here we meet to eat. The dragons can ask for their meat over there." He pointed at the huge gap in the wall. We ask for food there." Jonas pointed at a long counter where some warriors were already ordering. "I know that you're hungry, but that will have to wait until I finished showing you around."
   We left the dining hall through the same corridor, but this time we left through another door. Julian was surprised when he suddenly was in the open.
   "Here are the training-fields." Jonas explained, gesturing at the large area. "You will be expected here tomorrow at sun-rise."
He repeated what Julian already knew from Cole, but he didn't say anything, because it would have been disrespectful. Jonas kept showing him around and showed him the human leader's offices, which were exactly next to the training-fields. Then they walked to the open space where the dragons sleep and where they live. Jonas explained Julian that the most important dragons lived near the village and the most unimportant ones lived farer away. He told Julian that the leader of the entire dragon-warriors-group was called Jeremiah and was a huge red dragon. Then Julian followed his brother back to the dining hall.
   "Can you find your way back from here?" He asked.
   "I think, yes."
   "Ok. You can now go and eat something. Order what you want over there and then go to bed. You will have a tough day tomorrow."
   Julian nodded and again stopped himself from telling his brother that he already knew. Jonas nodded and left the hall. Julian slowly walked to the counter and ordered himself some eggs with bread. Despite all he wasn't really hungry. He was happy to see Ando and Joker at one of the tables and joined them. When he approached the table Joker saw him and opened a space next to him. I sat down and Ando leaned forward.
   "And, what did you two do?" He asked.
   "Nothing important, he showed me around."
   "Jonas showed you around?!" Joker interrupted. "Why would he do that?"
   "Cole said he would like me." Julian shrugged and ate some egg.
   "Well he certainly was right." Ando said. "Jonas is one of the toughest guys here. And he really isn't the guy, who shows the new ones around."
   "Dunno." Julian lied and stuffed some bread in his mouth. "I have no idea why he did that."
   "Who knows." Joker said. "But it is good to have a first class warrior as a friend from the start. Not many have such luck, right Ando?"
   "You mean like you? I have my brother!" Ando replied. "Cole is my brother." He explained to Julian, who felt his assumption confirmed.
   The teens fell silent, all deep in thought. Julian stopped eating. He felt he couldn't swallow another bit.
   "Let's go sleeping." Ando finally suggested. "We will have to get up early and you will have some serious pressure tomorrow." Julian nodded.
   "You're right, let's go." Julian and Joker said in unison.
Together they left the hall and Julian was surprised how low the sun already stood. They hurried through the corridor and entered the barracks. They entered their room and got to bed without losing a word. Julian hadn't really noticed how tired he was until his head touched the pillow. He thought it must have been the softest one he had ever felt, but then he dreamed away.

   Julian nearly fell out of his bed, when the ice-cold water splashed into his face. Gasping he stared at Jonas, who still held the dripping bucket. His brother straightened up and smiled.
   "Tomorrow I will not be able to wake you. You are about to get too late for Cole's evaluation. "
   Julian first stared at the warrior and then at the empty beds of the others. Shocked he jumped out of his bed, and ran to the window, gripping his clothes. He nearly tore his shirt apart, trying to put it on. He swore when he saw that the horizon already glowed in a bright pink.
   "Why haven't the others wakened me?" He shouted. Jonas shrugged.
   "I think they might have tried, but left you alone, when they found no way. You see what I had to do." He said and gestured at the wet bed.
   "Right." Julian paused; he couldn't believe that he had slept so deeply. "I must have been really tired."
  "It seems so, but now you should hurry. Cole hates unpunctuality."
   Julian went wide eyed and ran past his brother reaching out for the door handle. Before he could step through he stopped again.
   "Thanks Jonas, for waking me." He said, pulling his jeans up, which were about to fall because he had forgotten to close them.
   "It's all right. Now hurry!" Jonas laughed.
   Then Julian was gone. He sprinted as fast as he could. There was no time for breakfast, so he ran directly to the training-fields. He could always eat later. When he reached the fields Cole and the rest of his group was already waiting. Julian tried to say something, but only gasped for air. Cole raised a hand.
   "Ando already explained me what happened. I know that your journey was hard, Jonas told me what happened yesterday, but we need to get you started as soon as possible. That means exactly today and now." He said emphasizing each word.
   "I know sir." Julian said between two deep breaths. He instinctively chose the right salutation.
   Cole nodded and walked away. Julian followed with the group. Ando joined Julian and shrugged.
   "Good you made it. I tried to wake you, but you just kept sleeping. I thought I wanted to eat something, too, so I just left." He said.
   "It's ok. No problem."
   "Well, I felt really bad about it. I couldn't eat a bit."
   "So you haven't eaten more than me?"
   "No, he hasn't." Joker replied and Julian laughed.
   "Then I even have a chance to keep up with you!" He said.
   "I don't think so. You may have slept more and not eaten anything as well, but I still have more practice. You may have surprised an agent, but you know very well that it was luck."
   Julian only shrugged; Ando was right. They followed Cole, who led them to a corner of the field, where he opened a chest. He searched for something and then took out something which he handed to Julian. The boy looked at the long sword. It was heavy and about three foot long. The weapon was smaller and lighter than Jonas's blade. It stuck in a black leather-sheath and Julian pulled it out in one fluid motion. The blade shimmered in the sunlight, but Julian noticed that its edges were dull. He looked at Cole, who smiled.
   "This will be your training weapon." He explained. "I think that the best way to test you is a fight."
   Julian stared at him. He wanted to say something, but his new instructor waved at Ando and the boy stepped nearer.
   "I want that you and my little brother fight against each other. It is a fight to death or surrender, figurative, of course. That means that if one of you gets hit on the body or on the head he loses the battle. The blades are dull, so you can't cut each other to pieces, but the swords are still heavy and can break bones. Therefor be careful. A blow against the neck is deadly!"
   Julian was confused. No instructions, nothing? Just a here is your weapon, now fight?  The boy stared at Ando, who seemed equally confused. Julian's roommate just shrugged and took his position. Julian did the same. They faced each other. Raising their respective swords and tried to find any weaknesses in the opponent's defense. When Cole gave the command to begin, Ando jumped forward and struck in a single move, eager to finish this battle as fast as possible. Julian was surprised by his opponent's speed, but he evaded the blow with a small step to his right and tried to deal a blow. His arm hurt, when metal hit metal and Ando parried the strike. Without mercy the boy used his own momentum and again the swords found each other. Julian was relieved that he had kept himself in top shape over all the years, because if he hadn't he would not stand a chance against his new friend. Ando however seemed surprised by Julian's form. Even if Julian's technique was horrible he could keep up in speed and strength. His reflexes were even faster than the ones from Ando. Again the swords hit each other and Julian's arm vibrated, it felt tired and heavy. His roommate already breathed heavily. The boy saw his chance and struck again. Ando raised his sword and parried, but Julian didn't give up and tried to trick his friend. He moved a little to his right and when Ando reached out to strike again he jumped to his left and let his sword deal another blow. Ando shouted surprised when the cold metal hit his chest. Cole smiled.
   "That was far better than I had expected. Now I know why Jonas likes you." Ando nodded.
   "That was unbelievable. Have you been training earlier? Or at least did some exercises?" He asked.
   "Well, yeah. Kind of. I've been living outside the city and we didn't have electricity or flowing water. I needed to chop wood and bring water from the river. My dad was almost always hunting, so I had to do all the rest. I always jogged before school, so I kept myself in form." Ando stared at me.
   "No flowing water? Have you been living in outer space?"
   "Not quiet." Cole laughed.
   "So I think that you may as well stay in this group. Your technique is not good enough for a more advanced group, but your physical condition is a bit better than the others. That will help you master the handling and give the others time to reach your form. You have really surprised me." He said and Julian nodded.
   "Me, too." Ando said grinning. "It seems that now I have a partner! I am the best in our group, you know and now we have someone who is at least as good as me, someone who I can't play with!"
   The others laughed.
   "That's right." Muscle said. "He is so damn fast that I can't hit him. One single hit would be enough, but I am far too slow! And now here you come and you are even faster! I have no idea how to deal with that." The others nodded, obviously agreeing.
   Silence built up between them and Cole was staring over the field, lost in his thoughts. Suddenly the depressing atmosphere was destroyed by a grumble in Julian's stomach. Anyone stared at him, then Cole broke into a laugh and the others followed. Julian laughed too, but somehow felt strange about it. He was still laughing about himself.
   "Ok then, let's get this monster something to eat, before it gets out!" Cole said between two giggles and pointed at Julian. "I need to think about the new training plan and in the meantime you can go straight to the dining-hall laughing and eat something. You can come back afterwards. I will have figured something out by then." Still grinning he walked away and left the training-field.
   Slowly Ando recovered from his sudden outburst of laughter and straightened up.
   "Ok then, you heard the orders! We should feed the…" He giggled again. "Let's just go."
   Laughing the group sat off. The others, especially Ando and Joker, accepted Julian now into their group and treated him with more respect. They laughed and chatted together as if they would have been friends for years. Julian was happy. He had never thought that having friends would be so great. He didn't need any while he had been living with his father so he had never tried to find some. But now the situation was different. He enjoyed the company and it helped him forget what happened in the past days. When they reached the hall only a few others ordered something to eat apart from Julian. They had already eaten in the morning. But even so they joined him and kept catting while he was busy stuffing egg and bacon in his mouth. He wolfed the food down and then went for more. When he sat down again, carrying a new plate with egg and bacon, he noticed the angry stare of Cathleen. He sat down, feeling uneasy. He leaned over to Joker, who was sitting to his right, and whispered.
   "What's up with Cathleen? She is looking at me as if she would be on the brink of killing me."
   "Well," The boy whispered in his ear, "she is very ambitious, a bit too ambitious if you ask me. She wanted to be the first in beating Ando. I think she is mad at you because you have beaten her."
   Julian was surprised he looked at the girl, but quickly looked away again, when he found her still staring at him.
   "I think she loves Ando, too. But I don't really know that." Joker continued.
   "Hey, what are you two talking about?" Ando interrupted. "I hope it's nothing too serious!" He grinned broadly, good-humored as ever.
   They started talking about easier stuff and finally stood up, when Julian had finished eating.
   "You're happy now?" Cathleen asked roughly.
   Ando and the others stared at her.
   "Doesn't matter!" She said, turned and left the hall.
   "What the…" Ando said and then stopped himself.
   They slowly walked back to the fields and silently talked about Cathleen's outburst. They reached the place where Cole and the girl where already waiting. The instructor signaled her to join the others. For a moment she seemed to disobey, but then joined the group again, not even looking at Julian.
   "Ok, now you see my problem is that most of you already know the basic techniques of a sword-fight, Julian doesn't." He paused.
   "Why put him in our group then?" Cathleen interrupted. Cole stared at her. "He will just slow us down."
   "I don't think so," Cole responded, "because you will train him! I mean the entire group will show him what he needs to know. That, of course, you will do while you are not training with me. So you will need to sacrifice some of your spare time."
   Anyone moaned and Julian understood them. He hadn't thought that Cole would make them train even more just because he joined the group.
   "I won't force you to help him, but be aware, that if he fails, you all will fail."
   Again anyone moaned. Julian was shocked that meat that if he wasn't good enough to pass any test everyone in the group would not pass it. It was a huge pressure.
"Oh," he added, "and the first test on what he has learned will be next week. I want him to know all basic techniques by then!"
   "All of them?!" Ando shouted. "But that would take months, not a week! What you want is impossible!"
   "Then I suggest that you start now." Cole replied unimpressed. "I will give you the rest of the day."
   The instructor turned and left the small group staring at his back.
   "Well, what?" Joker said and Ando sighed.
   "That just means more work and trouble." Julian sighed too.
   The group slowly dissolved until only Julian and Ando where left, standing on the field. Ando stared at the training-sword in his hands, before he quickly moved into position for another fight.
   "We might as well start training now."

   They practiced for the rest of the day and only paused once to eat something. When the sun finally began to set they stumbled into the barracks and slept. Quickly the monotonous routine took over and Julian didn't even notice the days rushing past. Julian ate, laughed and chatted with the different members of the group as if he would have known them for most of his life. The only exception was Cathleen, who still seemed to be angry at him for some reason only she knew. When Julian asked the others about it they shrugged and replied that they didn't know. He usually trained with Ando because he was the best, but sometimes Joker or Muscle took his place to show him other styles. Julian knew that his brother was somewhere in the camp, too, but they never met or did even see each other from far. Finally, one day before the test, the time caught Julian again. He was sitting on his bed and chatted with Flint about the food from earlier, when Ando stepped in.
   "Nervous about tomorrow?" He asked grinning.
   Julian frowned at him, not knowing what his friend meant. Then his eyes widened in shock, when he remembered.
   "No way!" He shouted. "The test, I've totally forgotten about it! Ando, come with me, let's practice some more!" He hastily shouted, getting more nervous by the second and pointed at the black rectangle which was their window.
   Flint stared at him and Ando laughed.
   "Well if you can see in the darkness, I can't!"
   "What are you talking about?" Julian said confused and stared out of the window.
   He saw a group of three men hurrying towards the building. One of the men was Cole, who was carrying one of the training-swords. The light was dim, but still bright enough to train for an hour or two. He looked back at Ando, who stared at Julian.
   "What, you want to tell me that you can't even see your own brother out there?"
   "No I can't." Ando replied even more confused. "As I already said I can't see in absolute darkness."
   Julian stared at the boy and then looked to the window again. It was black, no light and no group of people. Julian stared harder, trying to see something, but could only make out darkness.
   "See, its dark. You know what this means? Darkness?" Ando said to tease him.
   "I will show you what darkness is." Julian said before he launched at his friend.
   They struggled for a while, but finally Ando grabbed a pillow from a nearby bed and pressed it on Julian's face.
   "Do you see anything now huh?" He shouted grinning.
   They struggled for some minutes more, before Julian gave up and they sat up, gasping for air. They got ready for the night and lay down to get some rest; all the fears about the test were gone. The last thought Julian had before drifting in the realms of his dreams was which problems he couldn't possibly solve with friends like these.

Description
   8 - Tough days full of joy

   While the dragon was getting lower and lower, Julian couldn't stop staring. There were men, adults, talking to the dragons near the wooden houses or training a small group of teens like Julian. All of them carried swords. The dragon landed on his hind legs, when a man came running towards them, smiling. He was around Jonas's age and had a friendly face. The dragon's forepaws had barely touched the ground when Julian's brother jumped off his back. The two men greeted each other and started talking silently, laughing occasionally. Julian was watching his brother from the dragons back.
   "Will you get down on your own or will I have to shake you off?"
   Surprisedly Julian faced the red eyes of the dragon, who was looking at him and stuttered.
   "Uhm... I... I will get down."
   Quickly Julian slid from the dragons back. We fell the two meters from the dragons back and when he landed, he lost his balance, and nearly fell. Jonas and the stranger, who had been watching, broke into laugh. Julian only grumbled something and walked over to them. When he reached them he nearly fell again, when the wind, caused by the wings of the black dragon, which was taking off again, hit him in the back.
   "Not used to something like that, huh?" The stranger asked.
   "Well", Julian answered, "I've been living with a dragon for most of my live, but no."
   The boy looked at his brother, demanding an explanation. The man didn't understand at first, but then he winced and quickly said. "I forgot my manners. Julian, this is Cole. Cole, this is our newest recruit Julian." He grinned. "Cole is one of our instructors. He will be the one, who trains you."
   We shook hands.
   "Yeah", Cole said, "I train the new ones. You're a little late, the others have already picked up the pace, but I'll see what I can do to integrate you into the group. It will be hart, but I'm sure you can manage it. Tomorrow I will test you, so I will see how advanced you are and what you still need to learn."
   I nodded. For a moment no one talked and a solid wall of silence built up between them.
   "Before I forget it. Jeremiah wanted to see you as soon as you return." Cole suddenly said to Jonas, who looked up surprised.
   "But I need to show him around."
   "I will do that, you should better hurry. You know how easily he becomes angry."
   "Right." Julian's brother paused, and then turned to face his younger brother. "I don't want to, but I need to see Jeremiah. Cole will show you where you can stay. I will be back soon and then I will show you the rest of the place." He looked at Cole, who nodded, and then he was gone. Julian watched him go until he disappeared behind a large building. Cole shrugged.
   "He seems to like you." He said. "You're not the first one he recruited and he has never showed anyone around. You can feel honored." Cole grinned at me, obviously being ironic.
   "I will remember that." Julian said and started walking, until he remembered, that he didn't know where to head. He stopped and turned to wait for Cole to come over.
   "Well you seem to want to get to the point." Cole laughed. "I guess that's good for you. It will help you in the training." He started walking and Julian followed. "Don't think it will be easy. We only pick the best from the best and even most of then only serve as mere servants for the dragons!"
   Julian swallowed, but even so he answered confidently.
   "I think I can handle it." Cole laughed again.
   "That's a good start!"
   They entered one of the large buildings and Julian curiously looked around. They were standing in a large foyer and there were small groups of people standing around talking. There was a fireplace, which wasn't used at the moment and grey ashes lay in it's middle. A big stair led to the upper floor. The walls and the floor were made of solid wood.
   "The recruits sleep down here. The instructors and warriors, including Jonas and myself, sleep upstairs." Cole explained shortly.
   He greeted some of the men and walked over to a door.
   "This is the sleeping room for you teens."
   The instructor opened the door and Julian stepped through first. The room was long and filled with wooden beds. Most of them were neat, only occasionally the bed-sheets were unorganized. The mattresses were thin and seemed uncomfortable, but Julian hadn't expected luxury. He was used to sleep in an old, worn mattress. In front of each bed was a footlocker which held the personal things of the recruits, Julian guessed. Over all Julian counted twelve beds, six on each side of the small corridor between them. It felt like home.
   "Well," Cole said, "you can sleep here." He pointed at one of the beds.
   Julian sat down on the mattress. Despise all it was soft. The boy smiled.
   "That will do." He said.
   "Have you expected something else?" Cole asked and raised an eyebrow.
   "Not at all."
   The instructor nodded and walked to a small window at the end of the rows of the bed. He turned his head, when he noticed that Julian hadn't followed him and signaled him to come. The boy looked through the window, which had no glass and saw the training field. The metallic sound of swords hitting each other wafted over to us.
   "I expect you down there at sun-rise." Cole said and pointed at the corner of the field. "Now you will stay here and wait for Jonas to come back. As your friend I would say enjoy your free evening, but as your new instructor I tell you to go to bed early. Tomorrow will be a tough day." He waved a good-bye and left the room.
Julian quickly got bored. He sat down on his bed and waited for his brother to return.
He heard the kids before he saw them. Suddenly a group of seven teens stormed into the room and their loud chattering filled the air. Julian was impressed by how normally it felt. He was sitting in a dragons headquarter, the teens in front of him were training with swords each day, training to kill, but even so the teens laughed, jabbered and shouted just like in his normal school. One of the teens hurried by and stopped as he saw Julian.
   "Hey," He said, his words were barely hearable over the loud chatter, "who are you?"
   "Oh," Julian answered, he didn't want to draw any attention on himself, "I'm just the new one. I arrived just today." He stuttered.
   The other kid started to grin and waved to the others.
   "Hey guys, it seems like we have a new room-mate here!" He shouted and the others came over.
  The kids started to ask questions, but they shouted all at once, so Julian couldn't understand a word. The kid that had noticed him first just shrugged and waited for them to come down again. Julian used the time to have a look at his new mates. All of them seemed to be in top shape and almost all of them seemed stronger than any bully on his former school. Even so Julian thought he would be able to keep up with them. When they finally fell silent he sighed and stepped in front of the crowd, as if he was the leader.
   "Well let me present you our training group." He pointed at a slim boy, who seemed to hide behind the others. "Well this is Flint." He pointed to another one. This time a muscular, bulky guy, who immediately stood out of the group. "This is Graham, but we all call him muscle."  The next teen he pointed at was sternly looking, but his eyes were filled with a friendly glow. "This is Joker; I don't even know his real name. If you see him you think he is mean, but he is a great guy." Like this he gave all the new faces names and Julian tried to remember all of them. When the teen, who still hadn't presented himself pointed at the last one, who stood a little apart from the others he said: "And here is our only girl in the group, Cathleen." She was tall and had long, black hair. Her she seemed pretty, but the look in her eyes was so hard that Julian recoiled from her. "And I am," He paused to raise the tension. Some of the others rolled with their eyes. "I am Ando. What I still don't understand is why they had put you with us. Usually the new ones are too slow and too weak to get in a more advanced group. We all are here for more than a year already. I doubt that you can keep our pace." Julian shrugged.
   "Well," he said, "Cole want's to test me tomorrow, to see what I'm capable of."
   "That explains a lot. So it seems that this will be your only night here. Tomorrow you will sleep with the new ones, but I still don't understand why he hadn't brought you there from the start."
   "Maybe it's because I had some contact with the bad guys already."
   "How do you mean that?" Ando said and raised an eyebrow, it reminded Julian of Cole.
   "Well, before I got here me and Jonas were fighting with an agent…"
   Suddenly all of the teens started shouting questions, getting louder with each second. Ando wanted to ask something, too, but shut his mouth, when he noticed that he would have no chance to actually be heard. Julian used the time to have a look at him. Ando was very similar to Cole, so much that Julian suspected that they were somehow related, maybe brothers. Despite the others he seemed surprised by the news, but not that astonished. Slowly the teens calmed down again. Ando turned to the others.
   "Would you please stop that? Every time you shout all at once my head hurts." He turned back to Julian. "How does it come that you fought an agent and escaped with life? That's something not everyone can hope for. That you fought with Jonas may be an explanation, but I still want to know how."
   "Well Jonas recruited me and the agent must have followed him." In quick sentences he summed up everything that happened during their escape, leaving out his talk with Jonas while they rested for the night.
   "Wow," Ando said when Julian had finished. "That's a great story, but why should I believe you?"
   "Because I say so." Jonas had appeared in the door.
   The others gasped and stared at the warrior.
   "Would you please come with me?" Jonas said and signaled Julian to follow him.
   When they left the room and the other teens couldn't hear them anymore, Jonas suddenly stopped and turned to his brother.
   "When we are here you should treat me with more respect. I am one of the higher warriors, which means that I am one of the highest ranked warriors. If you don't want that people laugh about me then I would suggest that you talk to me as if I were your boss."
   Julian nodded. He understood that because they didn't want their secret revealed Julian had to show the usual respect for a superior. Jonas nodded, too. He didn't expect an answer.
   "Ok then I should show you around."
   They left the barracks and walked through the complex. They joined a group of men, who were coming from the training-field. So they couldn't talk about it anymore and Jonas was forced to be the strict warrior again. They entered a large corridor and followed it into a strange room. The room was huge, with long tables where the humans could sit, but the far wall was missing.
   "This is the dining hall. Here we meet to eat. The dragons can ask for their meat over there." He pointed at the huge gap in the wall. We ask for food there." Jonas pointed at a long counter where some warriors were already ordering. "I know that you're hungry, but that will have to wait until I finished showing you around."
   We left the dining hall through the same corridor, but this time we left through another door. Julian was surprised when he suddenly was in the open.
   "Here are the training-fields." Jonas explained, gesturing at the large area. "You will be expected here tomorrow at sun-rise."
He repeated what Julian already knew from Cole, but he didn't say anything, because it would have been disrespectful. Jonas kept showing him around and showed him the human leader's offices, which were exactly next to the training-fields. Then they walked to the open space where the dragons sleep and where they live. Jonas explained Julian that the most important dragons lived near the village and the most unimportant ones lived farer away. He told Julian that the leader of the entire dragon-warriors-group was called Jeremiah and was a huge red dragon. Then Julian followed his brother back to the dining hall.
   "Can you find your way back from here?" He asked.
   "I think, yes."
   "Ok. You can now go and eat something. Order what you want over there and then go to bed. You will have a tough day tomorrow."
   Julian nodded and again stopped himself from telling his brother that he already knew. Jonas nodded and left the hall. Julian slowly walked to the counter and ordered himself some eggs with bread. Despite all he wasn't really hungry. He was happy to see Ando and Joker at one of the tables and joined them. When he approached the table Joker saw him and opened a space next to him. I sat down and Ando leaned forward.
   "And, what did you two do?" He asked.
   "Nothing important, he showed me around."
   "Jonas showed you around?!" Joker interrupted. "Why would he do that?"
   "Cole said he would like me." Julian shrugged and ate some egg.
   "Well he certainly was right." Ando said. "Jonas is one of the toughest guys here. And he really isn't the guy, who shows the new ones around."
   "Dunno." Julian lied and stuffed some bread in his mouth. "I have no idea why he did that."
   "Who knows." Joker said. "But it is good to have a first class warrior as a friend from the start. Not many have such luck, right Ando?"
   "You mean like you? I have my brother!" Ando replied. "Cole is my brother." He explained to Julian, who felt his assumption confirmed.
   The teens fell silent, all deep in thought. Julian stopped eating. He felt he couldn't swallow another bit.
   "Let's go sleeping." Ando finally suggested. "We will have to get up early and you will have some serious pressure tomorrow." Julian nodded.
   "You're right, let's go." Julian and Joker said in unison.
Together they left the hall and Julian was surprised how low the sun already stood. They hurried through the corridor and entered the barracks. They entered their room and got to bed without losing a word. Julian hadn't really noticed how tired he was until his head touched the pillow. He thought it must have been the softest one he had ever felt, but then he dreamed away.

   Julian nearly fell out of his bed, when the ice-cold water splashed into his face. Gasping he stared at Jonas, who still held the dripping bucket. His brother straightened up and smiled.
   "Tomorrow I will not be able to wake you. You are about to get too late for Cole's evaluation. "
   Julian first stared at the warrior and then at the empty beds of the others. Shocked he jumped out of his bed, and ran to the window, gripping his clothes. He nearly tore his shirt apart, trying to put it on. He swore when he saw that the horizon already glowed in a bright pink.
   "Why haven't the others wakened me?" He shouted. Jonas shrugged.
   "I think they might have tried, but left you alone, when they found no way. You see what I had to do." He said and gestured at the wet bed.
   "Right." Julian paused; he couldn't believe that he had slept so deeply. "I must have been really tired."
  "It seems so, but now you should hurry. Cole hates unpunctuality."
   Julian went wide eyed and ran past his brother reaching out for the door handle. Before he could step through he stopped again.
   "Thanks Jonas, for waking me." He said, pulling his jeans up, which were about to fall because he had forgotten to close them.
   "It's all right. Now hurry!" Jonas laughed.
   Then Julian was gone. He sprinted as fast as he could. There was no time for breakfast, so he ran directly to the training-fields. He could always eat later. When he reached the fields Cole and the rest of his group was already waiting. Julian tried to say something, but only gasped for air. Cole raised a hand.
   "Ando already explained me what happened. I know that your journey was hard, Jonas told me what happened yesterday, but we need to get you started as soon as possible. That means exactly today and now." He said emphasizing each word.
   "I know sir." Julian said between two deep breaths. He instinctively chose the right salutation.
   Cole nodded and walked away. Julian followed with the group. Ando joined Julian and shrugged.
   "Good you made it. I tried to wake you, but you just kept sleeping. I thought I wanted to eat something, too, so I just left." He said.
   "It's ok. No problem."
   "Well, I felt really bad about it. I couldn't eat a bit."
   "So you haven't eaten more than me?"
   "No, he hasn't." Joker replied and Julian laughed.
   "Then I even have a chance to keep up with you!" He said.
   "I don't think so. You may have slept more and not eaten anything as well, but I still have more practice. You may have surprised an agent, but you know very well that it was luck."
   Julian only shrugged; Ando was right. They followed Cole, who led them to a corner of the field, where he opened a chest. He searched for something and then took out something which he handed to Julian. The boy looked at the long sword. It was heavy and about three foot long. The weapon was smaller and lighter than Jonas's blade. It stuck in a black leather-sheath and Julian pulled it out in one fluid motion. The blade shimmered in the sunlight, but Julian noticed that its edges were dull. He looked at Cole, who smiled.
   "This will be your training weapon." He explained. "I think that the best way to test you is a fight."
   Julian stared at him. He wanted to say something, but his new instructor waved at Ando and the boy stepped nearer.
   "I want that you and my little brother fight against each other. It is a fight to death or surrender, figurative, of course. That means that if one of you gets hit on the body or on the head he loses the battle. The blades are dull, so you can't cut each other to pieces, but the swords are still heavy and can break bones. Therefor be careful. A blow against the neck is deadly!"
   Julian was confused. No instructions, nothing? Just a here is your weapon, now fight?  The boy stared at Ando, who seemed equally confused. Julian's roommate just shrugged and took his position. Julian did the same. They faced each other. Raising their respective swords and tried to find any weaknesses in the opponent's defense. When Cole gave the command to begin, Ando jumped forward and struck in a single move, eager to finish this battle as fast as possible. Julian was surprised by his opponent's speed, but he evaded the blow with a small step to his right and tried to deal a blow. His arm hurt, when metal hit metal and Ando parried the strike. Without mercy the boy used his own momentum and again the swords found each other. Julian was relieved that he had kept himself in top shape over all the years, because if he hadn't he would not stand a chance against his new friend. Ando however seemed surprised by Julian's form. Even if Julian's technique was horrible he could keep up in speed and strength. His reflexes were even faster than the ones from Ando. Again the swords hit each other and Julian's arm vibrated, it felt tired and heavy. His roommate already breathed heavily. The boy saw his chance and struck again. Ando raised his sword and parried, but Julian didn't give up and tried to trick his friend. He moved a little to his right and when Ando reached out to strike again he jumped to his left and let his sword deal another blow. Ando shouted surprised when the cold metal hit his chest. Cole smiled.
   "That was far better than I had expected. Now I know why Jonas likes you." Ando nodded.
   "That was unbelievable. Have you been training earlier? Or at least did some exercises?" He asked.
   "Well, yeah. Kind of. I've been living outside the city and we didn't have electricity or flowing water. I needed to chop wood and bring water from the river. My dad was almost always hunting, so I had to do all the rest. I always jogged before school, so I kept myself in form." Ando stared at me.
   "No flowing water? Have you been living in outer space?"
   "Not quiet." Cole laughed.
   "So I think that you may as well stay in this group. Your technique is not good enough for a more advanced group, but your physical condition is a bit better than the others. That will help you master the handling and give the others time to reach your form. You have really surprised me." He said and Julian nodded.
   "Me, too." Ando said grinning. "It seems that now I have a partner! I am the best in our group, you know and now we have someone who is at least as good as me, someone who I can't play with!"
   The others laughed.
   "That's right." Muscle said. "He is so damn fast that I can't hit him. One single hit would be enough, but I am far too slow! And now here you come and you are even faster! I have no idea how to deal with that." The others nodded, obviously agreeing.
   Silence built up between them and Cole was staring over the field, lost in his thoughts. Suddenly the depressing atmosphere was destroyed by a grumble in Julian's stomach. Anyone stared at him, then Cole broke into a laugh and the others followed. Julian laughed too, but somehow felt strange about it. He was still laughing about himself.
   "Ok then, let's get this monster something to eat, before it gets out!" Cole said between two giggles and pointed at Julian. "I need to think about the new training plan and in the meantime you can go straight to the dining-hall laughing and eat something. You can come back afterwards. I will have figured something out by then." Still grinning he walked away and left the training-field.
   Slowly Ando recovered from his sudden outburst of laughter and straightened up.
   "Ok then, you heard the orders! We should feed the…" He giggled again. "Let's just go."
   Laughing the group sat off. The others, especially Ando and Joker, accepted Julian now into their group and treated him with more respect. They laughed and chatted together as if they would have been friends for years. Julian was happy. He had never thought that having friends would be so great. He didn't need any while he had been living with his father so he had never tried to find some. But now the situation was different. He enjoyed the company and it helped him forget what happened in the past days. When they reached the hall only a few others ordered something to eat apart from Julian. They had already eaten in the morning. But even so they joined him and kept catting while he was busy stuffing egg and bacon in his mouth. He wolfed the food down and then went for more. When he sat down again, carrying a new plate with egg and bacon, he noticed the angry stare of Cathleen. He sat down, feeling uneasy. He leaned over to Joker, who was sitting to his right, and whispered.
   "What's up with Cathleen? She is looking at me as if she would be on the brink of killing me."
   "Well," The boy whispered in his ear, "she is very ambitious, a bit too ambitious if you ask me. She wanted to be the first in beating Ando. I think she is mad at you because you have beaten her."
   Julian was surprised he looked at the girl, but quickly looked away again, when he found her still staring at him.
   "I think she loves Ando, too. But I don't really know that." Joker continued.
   "Hey, what are you two talking about?" Ando interrupted. "I hope it's nothing too serious!" He grinned broadly, good-humored as ever.
   They started talking about easier stuff and finally stood up, when Julian had finished eating.
   "You're happy now?" Cathleen asked roughly.
   Ando and the others stared at her.
   "Doesn't matter!" She said, turned and left the hall.
   "What the…" Ando said and then stopped himself.
   They slowly walked back to the fields and silently talked about Cathleen's outburst. They reached the place where Cole and the girl where already waiting. The instructor signaled her to join the others. For a moment she seemed to disobey, but then joined the group again, not even looking at Julian.
   "Ok, now you see my problem is that most of you already know the basic techniques of a sword-fight, Julian doesn't." He paused.
   "Why put him in our group then?" Cathleen interrupted. Cole stared at her. "He will just slow us down."
   "I don't think so," Cole responded, "because you will train him! I mean the entire group will show him what he needs to know. That, of course, you will do while you are not training with me. So you will need to sacrifice some of your spare time."
   Anyone moaned and Julian understood them. He hadn't thought that Cole would make them train even more just because he joined the group.
   "I won't force you to help him, but be aware, that if he fails, you all will fail."
   Again anyone moaned. Julian was shocked that meat that if he wasn't good enough to pass any test everyone in the group would not pass it. It was a huge pressure.
"Oh," he added, "and the first test on what he has learned will be next week. I want him to know all basic techniques by then!"
   "All of them?!" Ando shouted. "But that would take months, not a week! What you want is impossible!"
   "Then I suggest that you start now." Cole replied unimpressed. "I will give you the rest of the day."
   The instructor turned and left the small group staring at his back.
   "Well, what?" Joker said and Ando sighed.
   "That just means more work and trouble." Julian sighed too.
   The group slowly dissolved until only Julian and Ando where left, standing on the field. Ando stared at the training-sword in his hands, before he quickly moved into position for another fight.
   "We might as well start training now."

   They practiced for the rest of the day and only paused once to eat something. When the sun finally began to set they stumbled into the barracks and slept. Quickly the monotonous routine took over and Julian didn't even notice the days rushing past. Julian ate, laughed and chatted with the different members of the group as if he would have known them for most of his life. The only exception was Cathleen, who still seemed to be angry at him for some reason only she knew. When Julian asked the others about it they shrugged and replied that they didn't know. He usually trained with Ando because he was the best, but sometimes Joker or Muscle took his place to show him other styles. Julian knew that his brother was somewhere in the camp, too, but they never met or did even see each other from far. Finally, one day before the test, the time caught Julian again. He was sitting on his bed and chatted with Flint about the food from earlier, when Ando stepped in.
   "Nervous about tomorrow?" He asked grinning.
   Julian frowned at him, not knowing what his friend meant. Then his eyes widened in shock, when he remembered.
   "No way!" He shouted. "The test, I've totally forgotten about it! Ando, come with me, let's practice some more!" He hastily shouted, getting more nervous by the second and pointed at the black rectangle which was their window.
   Flint stared at him and Ando laughed.
   "Well if you can see in the darkness, I can't!"
   "What are you talking about?" Julian said confused and stared out of the window.
   He saw a group of three men hurrying towards the building. One of the men was Cole, who was carrying one of the training-swords. The light was dim, but still bright enough to train for an hour or two. He looked back at Ando, who stared at Julian.
   "What, you want to tell me that you can't even see your own brother out there?"
   "No I can't." Ando replied even more confused. "As I already said I can't see in absolute darkness."
   Julian stared at the boy and then looked to the window again. It was black, no light and no group of people. Julian stared harder, trying to see something, but could only make out darkness.
   "See, its dark. You know what this means? Darkness?" Ando said to tease him.
   "I will show you what darkness is." Julian said before he launched at his friend.
   They struggled for a while, but finally Ando grabbed a pillow from a nearby bed and pressed it on Julian's face.
   "Do you see anything now huh?" He shouted grinning.
   They struggled for some minutes more, before Julian gave up and they sat up, gasping for air. They got ready for the night and lay down to get some rest; all the fears about the test were gone. The last thought Julian had before drifting in the realms of his dreams was which problems he couldn't possibly solve with friends like these.