The School of Dragon Riders [Dragon Riders #1]

Chapter 24 (edited)

/Yes, I decided to give you the whole edited book for free, cos there's gonna be a second book and u gotta know the ending for that, you're welcome :) 

I woke up to find myself lying on the ground, covered by a blanket of some sort. I tried to get up, but the burn at my shoulder made me grunt and fall back down. The wound was cleaned and bandaged, but it obviously wasn't healed.

It was dark outside, and I couldn't see anyone around. My sword and daggers were still there, which was good in case I needed to fight.

"You're awake," I heard a deep voice from behind me. It startled me, and I tried turning around, but the pain stopped me.

"Who are you?" I asked instead, expecting my voice to be weak and broken, but it came out as strong as always.

"The one who took you out of the river," the voice answered, and I heard soft footsteps as the person walked around and in front of me. It was a male, around twenty years old, with black hair and dark eyes.

Others approached from behind the man; a girl, looking a bit older than me, a man in his thirties and a boy that looked a lot like the girl, and I assumed they were siblings. The girl was holding a bow.

"Who are you?" I asked. The man who approached me first seemed to be their leader.

"We are travellers. Explorers. Thieves. Killers. Warriors. In one word, Outlaws, like most of the people in the Outlands. You came from the Human Kingdom. You're Medea, and you're wanted for trying to kill Shade," he said, a smirk appearing on his face at my surprised look.

"I'm not going to ask how you know that. If you're planning to turn me in, forget about that," I said, instinctively not trusting them and putting my hand on my sword. Luckily, my sword hand wasn't the one that was shot.

"I was aiming for the head, but this dummy told me not to kill you, so I missed because of his distraction," the girl said, pointing to the leader.

"She will be useful," that was all he said. The girl exchanged glances with her brother, and they started whispering to each other.

"We are planning to kill Shade as well. Nobody in the Outlands knows about you except us, so don't worry about getting caught. You're going to have to prove yourself to us. If you're not useful, you're dead," the leader said. I smiled. I'd rather travel alone, but I suspect they know where Shade is. Shade seemed to be a name everyone used for the dragon thief.

"Good," I said. The leader grinned.

"Stand up and fight me. If you can't fight while wounded, you're no use to us," he said, offering me a hand to help me up. A fight, eh? I could do that, even while wounded. I still had my Elements, and I grinned, showing my pointy teeth.

I took his hand, but instead of pulling myself up, I pulled him down. He seemed to have expected that, since I got a fist in my face as soon as I pulled. I was back on the ground again. Ignoring the pain, I rolled away and managed to stand up as he punched air.

"No weapons. Elements are allowed," he said and I nodded. I wasn't good at fist fights, but Tanya is my sister, after all, and I had lots of them in Stone Tooth.

I dodged his kick, swinging my arm to hit him. He blocked my blow and punched me in the stomach. His blow would have had me on the ground if I weren't in my dark form.

I did a few fast and connected swings while trying to kick his stomach. I managed to kick him, but my blow wasn't as strong since there was no strength put into it. He smirked, and I decided to use Darkness.