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dragon, along with his bigger
build, meant that he was less speedy.  That and he was rather stupid and dull.
    His father
brought his tail down with a bang. 
    “Begin.”
    Ramaeka leapt
to the side as his brother bound at him, swinging his tail as he leapt.  He
narrowly missed his opponents shoulder and swiftly turned to face his brother
again.  With a roar the dragonet jumped forward sweeping out with his claws;
Ramaeka feinted to the left then dodged to the right, biting deep into his
brother’s ear.  Bleh!  That tastes absolutely terrible, he thought as his
brother squealed in pain.  His opponent whipped his tail around, luckily
missing him with the sharp serrated tip, but whacked him hard enough across the
head to stun him, seizing the opportunity his brother hit him hard with a head
butt.
    As he
staggered back, his adversary pounced on him pushing him back against the rock
with his superior weight and size.  Between him and the rock it felt like he
was stuck in a vice.
    “You’re so
dead,” he snarled into Ramaeka’s face, his breath unfortunately foul.  I need
to get into the air away from the rock, he thought desperately.  Wriggling his
tail free he raked it across the other dragonets side.  As his opponent recoiled
slightly in surprise, Ramaeka brought his head up to use the fire spell, flames
leaping from his mouth into the face of his brother who cried out in pain and
leaped back.
    Ramaeka
scrambled to his feet and bound across the clearing, his brother snarling
inches from his tail.  He soared off the edge of the cliff, instantly feeling
more confident with the air under his wings; he could hopefully out fly his
heavier brother until Ramanae called time.  Sensing his opponent behind and to
the left he banked and dropped slightly, twisting around to claw across the
exposed stomach then dipping to miss the tail.  With a cry his brother turned
and shot flames at him which were swept to the side by the wind.  Ramaeka
plunged away flying as nimbly as he knew how, his enemy close on his tail.  He
dropped suddenly, his wings firmly pressed against his back, shooting down
towards the ledge, his opponent right behind him.  At the last minute he spread
his wings, inches above the ground, shooting to the right then to the left. 
His larger brother managed to pull out his wings in time to slow his drop
slightly though he still hit the ground fairly hard, and bound to the right
with all his strength.  Unfortunately, he forgot to twist to the left and
slammed hard into a wall of rock.  Rock element though he was, the dragonet was
stunned and staggered backwards.  Ramaeka landed in a crouching position watching
his opponent warily as he shook his head in a daze.
    “Enough,” his
father called scowling at them.  “Very average.  You two next.” 
    He pointed at
the next pair and turned away to mutter something to Tannis.  Ramaeka sighed in
relief moving quickly over to the side of the ledge, average it may have been
but he was still alive and that was what mattered.  In fact he thought
mischievously, he rather thought that he may have won.  He grinned at his
battered brother, who glared back baring his fangs.
     
    Trying to keep
awake after hours of physical training could be quite difficult Ramaeka thought
several hours later as he fought to keep his eyes open.  It didn’t help when
the class was Amarian history and politics.  He choked back a yawn as his
teacher nattered on about the rise of the wavaki in the Era of Bones.  Most of
his teachers were weaker dragons who came to his father’s keep because they
liked his conservative view about draconian politics.  Ramaeka had long decided
that conservatives were the most dried up bunch of yammerers in existence.  In
return they called him insolent and stupid; they told him he asked far too many
questions that were not relevant.
    “Ramaeka.”
    A voice
knocked him out of his boredom, blinking he looked at the scowling teacher.
    “Sir,”