At the end of the second week in Throal S’kram woke up with his face lying in an old musty tomb. Fafnir was relentless in his teachings. S’kram had not been out one night this week. He was beginning to think that he was never going to survive the training or see the sun again. He pushed the book away and sat up. S’kram decided he was going out today.
After cleaning himself and dressing he summoned Mika and headed out. He was going to see Stilicho about Fafnir traveling on the ship. He had already talked to Dagmar, and he was sure that Vridich, Suulin, Urgral, and Dremnin would not mind.

S’kram knew that Stilicho was training at the Order of the Hand. When S’kram arrived he found Stilicho was training in the training yard. There were racks of wooden training weapons to the side of the sand pit. Stilicho was out in the center of the sand pit. There was an old thin elf training him, talking to him about how to handle multiple opponents. The master was showing Stilicho ways to move through them to keep them in front of him. Stilicho was listening intently.

Stilicho was wearing a padded leather chest cover. The cover was sleeveless so his sweaty muscled arms were shinning in the sun light. He had a wooden sword and a shield. The Master finished his lecture and called three young dwarves from some benches.

Stilicho took up a defensive stance, shield in front of him. The dwarves lined up about 4 yards away from Stilicho. The dwarf on the left had an axe and shield. The dwarf in the center was sword and board with an eager bounce to his stance. The dwarf on the right had a two handed spear. I could see that they were lower circle then Stilicho. I laughed to myself knowing that they had taken up bad positions. The Spear had trapped the dwarf in the center making his only move straight ahead. I looked at Mika and quietly whispered watch closely. These three are in for a beating. Having more men does not always make winning a sure thing.

The master called for the match to start and the three dwarves charged. The first dwarf to Stilicho, the one in the middle, intended to shield charge. Stilicho read his move and held to the last second. He spun to the side with the spear with a long step. The dwarf charged over his extended leg and sprawled towards the floor. Stilicho reached back and caught him with an upward faults edge strike just below the neck on the chest. Stilicho’s spin carried him wide to the outside of the spear man. This left the axe man way out of position.

Stilicho dropped the front edge of his shield daring the dwarf to strike at his neck. The younger warrior seeing a quick finish to the match took the bait and lunged with the spear. Stilicho dropped the shield and grabbed the haft of the spear. He then wrapped his left arm around the spear and charged down the shaft landing a solid blow on the helmet of the dwarf who was still holding the spear. The dwarf failed to yield to what would have been a fatal strike. Stilicho made his point with a swift kick to the gut. S’kram could hear the air leave the dwarf’s lungs from where he was standing in the shade. The dwarf rolled in to a ball on the sand as the axe wielding dwarf came at Stilicho swinging wildly to drive the lord back.
Stilicho gave ground letting the last dwarf chase him. He dragged the spear keeping it in between them. The last dwarf stepped out on to the spear driving it to the floor. Stilicho then leaped forward flipping to land behind the dwarf. Stilicho struck the dwarf twice before he could get turned around. The master called a stop to the battle and told them all to get a drink of water.

I applauded the match and walked out of the shade. I bowed my head to the master. I need to speak to Lord Stilicho a moment master if I may. The master motioned with his hand to where the men were getting a drink.

I went over to where Stilicho was sitting on a bench next to a well. I sat down and smiled. Are you leaving them any dignity I asked? Stilicho coughed up some of his water as he giggled.

I asked the question I came to ask before he could reply. Fafnir wants to travel with us again. I would like him to come along. I’m sure that he has information on the staff and wants to be involved in the search.

I saw Stilicho’s face light up at the mention of the staff. He did not have to think about it at all. He was excited to have the old dwarf back on the boat.

Almost as if on cue the training master called for Stilicho back to the pit. I headed back to the library to tell Fafnir the good news. Now I just had to get him to swear to keep the secret of the dragon. Ohh he was going to just come out of his skin when he found out we had a baby dragon on board the ship.