The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) (26 page)

             
“Which weapon do you think we will start you off with?” he asked as he made his way down the walls covered in weapons. He looked at them all and pointed at some, waiting for someone to answer.

             
“Well you said that dragonauts where a dragon riders main weapons, I am going to say them,” Hayden said, not worried that he had been the first to speak.

             
“The way you think is logical, you try to look for reason, but no, you are wrong; anyone else?”  The other answers were sword, bow, and Sebastian had pointed at some weapon he had never seen or heard of outside of the barracks. Tynan had told each of them no in turn.

             
“You have all guessed wrong, you have forgotten the most important weapon of any fighter; whether they be a common soldier or even a dragon rider. What good would it do if I taught you how to use any of these weapons, but you could not control your own body? Or what would happen if you had no weapons and had to fight for your lives, what good would the spinning furry move that you saw yesterday do you?” he asked, none of them having an answer, and Shane even lowered his head.

             
“Never lower your head in here, Shane The Copper, never. No matter what any of you do or do not do right in here you always hold your head up with pride. Now I know you are tired and worn out, but that is how you will feel for the next year, so we must get started now. Hayden, you answered first so you will try to hit me first. Please come and stand in front of me. The rest of you please have a seat against that wall, but don’t get to comfortable, your turns are coming.” The others, Giles and Sebastian, looked at each other while Shane continued an unemotional gaze into the center of the open room.

             
Hayden stood calmly in front of Tynan and tried to control his breathing. His muscles were sore and begging him to allow them to rest, but he wanted to stay where he was. Tynan’s face showed no emotion, Hayden wondered if he even saw Hayden or if he was only looking at another opponent, weighing his strengths and weaknesses.

             
“You will attack me, using only your fists. Hit me as hard as you can, as fast as you can, if you can.” Tynan smiled, but still did not move.

             
Hayden made fists and held them awkwardly in front of his chest. Tynan shook his head and held his fists closer to his face so Hayden could barely see his eyes. Hayden copied his stance and then slowly moved forward; once he had made it almost half way to Tynan he ran as fast as he could and punched as hard as he could with his right hand aimed at the side of Tynan’s head.

             
If Tynan was surprised he did not show it as Hayden clumsily ran at him. Hayden saw his fist flying at Tynan, and at the last second Tynan leaned back and clear out of the way. Hayden could not slow down after he had thrown his whole body into the punch, so he stumbled and fell onto the floor. Hayden heard Giles and Sebastian laugh, and he was expecting Tynan to laugh also, but instead
Tynan helped Hayden up to his feet.

             
“That was a good try, you gave it all you had and tried to surprise me. If you had been fighting someone who was not trained we would be trying to wake them up right now.” They continued to move around each other; Hayden punching only air and Tynan instructing him on how to better his stance. Hayden was panting and having trouble holding his fists up after a few minutes.

             
“You are doing well, you have natural instinct, and we just have to refine your skill. A big reason why people loose fights, whether in battle or in the streets, is fear. Fear can be your best friend or the thing that cripples you. You must learn how to instill it in your foes and keep it out of your heart. No fear, no fear.” He shouted the last words out and Hayden heard them echoed back from people who must have been outside the barracks.

             
“Do you know what your fear is, Hayden The Silver?” Tynan asked him as he leaned in closer. Hayden did not respond, but continued breathing heavily with his hands down by his sides. “You have many fears, but there is one that has been in the front of your mind since you started sparring with me. You are afraid to be hit, are you not?”

             
Hayden thought about what Tynan had said. He was scared, but only because he had never really been hit before. He nodded slowly to Tynan and watched as a smile kept upon his face.

             
“Accepting your fear is the first step, acknowledging it and knowing what it is that you fear is the only way you can beat your fear. Hayden The Silver, do you know how we beat our fear?” Hayden shook his head. “We face it.” Tynan said as he threw a hard right fist that connected with the side of Hayden’s head.

             
Hayden had time to register that it was coming at him but he could not start to stop it. When it did hit he did not feel any pain, he felt a second of pleasure from where the fist had collided, and then everything went black. In the blackness there was nothing except the continuous echo of no fear, no fear.

             
Hayden woke up in the barracks still. He had been moved so that he was leaning up against the far wall and one of Tynan’s other students was offering him water. He accepted it gratefully, but when he sat up his head started throbbing. He closed his eyes and rubbed his head, listening to his heart beat that seemed to now be in his head.

             
When he finally opened his eyes he noticed that both Giles and Sebastian were lying unconscious next to him. Giles nose was swollen and both his eyes were darkening, while Sebastian had a knot swelling on the side of his head and his lips were crusted with dry blood. He heard grunting and panting that drew his attention back to the center of the room.

             
Tynan was covered in sweat and laughing as he backed away from Shane. Shane had obviously been hit a few times by the blood dripping from his nose and mouth, his left eye was starting to swell closed, but he was still swinging at Tynan. Hayden was shocked to see that Tynan was not dodging like he had with him but he was having to block the fists flying at him.

             
Shane was tired, but his punches still appeared to hitting hard. Tynan ducked under one of Shane’s punches and jumped into the air and hit Shane on the head. Shane dropped to one knee and shook his head. Tynan relaxed his hands and put his hands on his hips, taking deep breaths himself.

             
Shane jumped back up, shocking both Hayden and Tynan, and pulled his right fist back and started to swing it forward with all his might. Tynan was faster and he leaned in and hit Shane in the center of his face.

             
This time Shane went down and landed flat on his face, and this time he did not even stir. Two more of Tynan’s students came and placed
Shane gently with the others. Tynan noticed that Hayden had woken up and made his way over to him. He examined his head and told him he would be fine and asked him to stand up.

             
Hayden got up and slowly moved around until he was sure he wasn’t going to pass out. Tynan showed him how to properly stand and move around; they fought again, but this time much slower and without hitting each other. Tynan instructed Hayden on how to strike with the most force while using the least amount of energy. Shane was the next one to wake up, and Tynan let them practice with each other while he moved around them, giving them pointers the whole time.

             
Hayden could feel the bump on his head by the time that they had finished, and Shane looked the worst out of all of them. Giles and Sebastian still hadn’t woken up, but Tynan assured them that they would be fine.

             
“They had taken the worst hits so they will be out the longest. I will stay with them while you two go and eat, you do remember where the dining hall is right?” Tynan had already walked over to the two knocked out riders, but he made sure to face Hayden and Shane to make sure they knew where they were going. They both nodded their heads to their battle instructor. “Good, it won’t do us any good for you to be lost and wondering around the pyramid.”

             
They said their goodbyes and unlocked the door, every one of the fifteen locks. They passed the fountain and made their way back into the over shadowing pyramid. By the time that they had made it into the dining hall they were more limping than walking. They sat down at the same table that they had the day before, the food was even the same, but they were so hungry that they didn’t care.

             
They ate in silence except for when they triggered their injuries and winced in pain. Hayden focused on Draek and found him sunning on the hill just like he had the day before. He was eager, even in his worn out and sleepy state, to tell Hayden about what had happened so far in the day.

             
We did some of the same things we had done yesterday, but we did obstacles also. I had to climb up a steep wall using my claws and then glide as far as I could down the other side.
Hayden just listened to Draek carry on about the different things he had done until he noticed that Draek’s thoughts started getting cloudy. Draek finally fell asleep on the hillside while he was trying to communicate to him.

             
“Tynan is a hard instructor isn’t he?” Hayden asked Shane; he was trying to break the silence now that Draek was asleep.

             
“He is, but he is the best there is. I know that you were not raised in the city, but for the past few years everyone knows Tynan. He started off as a regular foot soldier until they realized how talented he was with almost every weapon.

             
“During a battle he took a group of young men that he had trained personally and led them to the front of the line. When the other army hit the center they never made it past his group. The killed everyone that came near them and they did not lose a single man. Right after that battle they made him the dragon rider’s battle trainer; he still trains small groups of elite solders that usually become generals or some other leader in the ground troops.” Hayden had never heard any history about Tynan, and he was trying to learn all that he could.

             
“If he was that good why did he not try for a dragon egg?” Hayden asked.

             
“He did, but he did not make it. Tynan tried almost fifteen years ago, but he was from a small town right up against the shadow desert, so Elizabeth did not trust him enough to allow him to get an egg. She made a deal with him that if he spent two years in with the ground troops she would let him get his egg, but after he had done his two years and had proven himself she told him no. She said that he was now too old to try for an egg and he would be of much more use as a trainer rather than a rider.”

             
They both got up and started heading to Estraken’s library for their lesson; neither of them had seen Giles or Sebastian yet and they weren’t going to be late waiting on them. They continued to talk while walking through the halls, Hayden asking questions about Tynan’s past and Shane telling him all the stories he had heard.

             
They made it to the library and they thought that they were going to have to explain to Estraken why there where two riders missing, but as soon as they walked in the book filled room he told them that Tynan had already sent word about what had happened to Giles and Sebastian.

             
“Since they will not be joining us today I thought we would do a different lesson, that way I will not have to repeat myself once they return; I do hate having to repeat myself. Anyways, today we will be doing some hands on work with this.” He had cleared off the table that was normally covered in random books and scrolls and instead the table was covered by one large saddle.

             
It was the saddle for a dragon, and the saddle itself was bigger than any regular saddle Hayden had ever seen. The smallest part of it was the actual seat that the rider would sit on.

             
The saddle was not made of solid leather, but of leather pouches held together with chain male, the seat part was the same size as a normal saddle though. There were multiple empty quivers on the saddle, each one would be easily accessible while ridding.

             
“This is a saddle from a silver rider, his dragon has just outgrown it and they made him a new one. As you can see the saddle has many purposes other than just comfort. The saddle can hold everything you will need during your travels, your weapons, and if your dragon gets big enough they will give you a saddle that has multiple seats on it.”

             
Estraken continued to show them the multiple straps that would hold the saddle down to the dragon. He explained what some of the pouches were for and told them where the different weapons would go. Hayden and Shane studied the saddle until their dragons made it back to their rooms and Esrtaken told them to go take care of them.

             
Once Hayden had made it back he led Draek to the cleaning stalls and cleaned his scales like he had done the night before. He took a bucket of the oil back to their room, and once there he oiled Draek’s soft skin around his eyes and mouth. Draek told him about his day and listened to Hayden until he fell asleep with his head resting in Hayden’s lap. Hayden quickly joined his friend in sleep.

             
                                                        _____________________

             
Days and weeks went by and everything fell into a routine for the riders. Hayden noticed Draek’s growth, slow at first, but when it was just three weeks since Draek had hatched his shoulders stood taller than Hayden was.

              Hayden had become used to seeing multitudes of dragons from day to day, and he was able to appreciate Draek’s training because of the ribbons of muscles that were starting to show. Hayden himself noticed that he was seeing definition in his body that hadn’t been there before. The training was starting to be fun, and neither of them was as worn out afterwards as they had been.

              Their other training tasks were coming along greatly; Draek was still leading in the combat training. Hayden’s own combat training was going well; they had moved on from hand to hand and were now practicing with wooden staffs, and twice a week they did nothing but archery practice. When they weren’t in their lessons they stayed in their rooms most of the time and Shane and his Rilora would come see them.

              Neither of them had seen or heard anything from Cassidy or her dragon Shaylin. Whenever Hayden had asked Draek to see what they were doing Draek always told him that Shaylin was busy and that they would come to them when they could.

                                                                      ______________

              Draek was resting against the corner wall in their room while Hayden was rubbing more oil on his wing joints. His wings were now big enough to allow him to glide long distances, but he didn’t have the muscle to lift himself up yet. The trainers were always commenting on how strong Draek was and how he was going to fly before he was supposed to.

Shane was bringing Rilora over, like he did most nights after they ate, and while the dragons rested they were going to practice their staff fighting. When Rilora started to walk in through the large opening, Draek lifted his head up abruptly.

             
Hey, Draek, it’s just Shane and Rilora, you knew they were coming over, why did they startle you?
Hayden asked Draek. When Draek had moved suddenly it had caused Hayden to spill some of the oil on the floor.

              Draek shook his head from side to side slowly and lowered his eyelids slightly. Hayden looked at where Shane and Rilora were coming in and Rilora had stopped walking and was doing the same thing. Hayden had never seen either dragons act like this and a pang of fear struck his heart.

             
Draek, what’s the matter?
Hayden shouted with his mind.

             
They are coming.
Draek responded calmly to Hayden’s question.

             
Who is coming?
Hayden asked.

             
Cassidy and Shaylin, they are coming to see us. They have something to tell us.

Chapter 13

            
 
“Hayden, Cassidy is coming?” Shane asked when he made it into the room. Rilora went and lay down next to Draek. Hayden knew that Draek was big for a young silver, he was the biggest out of the other dragons that had hatched with him, but Rilora was almost the same size as Kurok and Sullivan. Draek had rested his head back down after he had told Hayden his message.

             
“That’s what Draek just said, we haven’t seen her since our first lesson, wonder why she is finally coming to see us.” Hayden had been upset since they had last seen each other because he had made a lot of effort to find her or speak to her by dragon, but it seemed she had forgotten about them, and about him.

             
Before Shane could reply, Hayden heard the unmistakable sound of a dragon walking into the room. He turned his head to face the opening that lead to the outside. Draek lifted his head and turned it towards the same direction, but Rilora stayed perfectly still, no longer caring about what was going on around her.

             
Hayden had braced himself for what was walking towards him, but he was still shock when he faced the golden dragon that stood before him. Shaylin was smaller than both Draek and Rilora and she had a much less aggressive look about her. She seemed to glow, even in the dull lit room. She was the only dragon that Hayden thought really looked feminine.

             
Hayden noticed that Cass wasn’t walking next to her dragon, but she was riding on its back like it was a horse. She was still wearing her grays like she had worn when he had first met her dragon. She was tanned, and Hayden could tell that she had been doing some sort of physical training also by the looks of her body. She had her dark hair pulled back in a pony tail. When Shaylin got close to them she slid off her dragon’s back with grace. She patted her dragon’s side and then Shaylin went and lay with the other dragons.

             
Draek placed his head near
Shaylin, and the three dragons made a giant metal ball of scales as they all tried to get comfortable. No one said anything for a few seconds, the only noise Hayden heard besides the dragons breathing was the sound of his heart beat that he was sure the others could hear.

             
Hayden watched as she slowly walked up to them, he could feel himself blushing as she neared. He felt the heat that was being generated from the three large dragons and he was sure he could blame his red face on them.

             
“So why are you here?” Hayden asked, a little meaner than he intended to.

             
“I am sorry that I haven’t contacted you guys earlier, but Elizabeth has been training me and keeping me as busy as you guys are. I had to come speak with you two about something that happened a few weeks ago.” The more she talked the more she seemed to loosen up to Shane and Hayden again. “Can we go speak outside; it’s getting rather hot in here.”

             
“Of course, I was about to ask that,” Shane responded. He walked out the room with her, forcing Hayden to walk slightly behind them.

             
“So are you talking about the night when all the other dragons left?” Hayden asked once they were outside. He felt the cool evening breeze brush up against him; bringing the smell of burning wood from one of the blacksmiths. The cool air caused him to feel a slight chill when it first struck his body. The sun was just setting in front of the Metallic Pyramid, so they would get to watch the sky darken and turn its many shades of red and orange as they talked.

             
“Yes, how did you know?” she asked, eyeing the hole in the side of the pyramid that led to her sleeping dragon. “Did Shaylin tell Draek?”

             
“No, I just guessed because it was the only thing that has happened out of place since we became dragon riders. Other than that night everything has been the same every day,” Hayden told her, and she nodded her head in agreement.

             
“Well than what do you know about that night?”

             
“There was a large tribe of dwarfs that had united and decided to march to Celestial City. Our dragon riders flew to protect us and the dwarfs attacked them. That’s what our trainer told us what happened, but we heard from Benet that things went differently than that.”

             
They told Cassidy everything that Benet had told them so many nights ago. She had not been expecting them to know so much, but she didn’t tell them anything that they had not heard.

             
“You guys know what happened then, but do you know what The Ruling Three are discussing right now?” she asked them, but both knew nothing about what she was talking about. “They believe that the other races and the other riders are starting to cause too much trouble. They are considering copying what our ancestors did and attack each race, rebinding them to our will. They are calling it a crusade to stop all the violence between us. They have already talked about getting what laws we have that protect the races revoked.

             
“They will become less than cattle to be traded and killed for the pleasure of their masters. It will not be a crusade, but a purge against anyone in Arvain besides those that live within the walls of Celestial City.”

             
Cass had barley taken a breath as she spoke, getting all her words out in a short amount of time. At first Hayden could not believe that such a thing was being considered, but once he thought about it he began to see the goal they were trying to reach.

             
“They are trying to unite all of Arvain under one banner and The Ruling Three,” Hayden said, to himself as much as to the others.

             
“No, they are not trying to unite Arvain; they are trying to conquer it,” Cass corrected him.

             
“Is that so bad? The other races are barbarians, ruthless pirates, mad elves, crazed dwarfs and bone thieves. They are wild evil creatures who need to be controlled, what would be the harm in ruling all of Arvain. It would stop wars that are sure to one day happen and bring peace to the land,” Hayden asked. Cass looked almost shocked and Shane seemed to be thinking about what he said, trying to figure out how he felt about it.

             
“You have been told to many fairy tales Hayden, they don’t do those horrible things at night that they tell you about when you are a child.”

             
“When I was a child a copper rider landed in our town, he had been hit by three arrows and they told us he was on a peaceful mission and the elves attacked him. I watched him die and it wasn’t a fairy tale.” Hayden felt his anger rising up and he tried his best to keep it under control.

             
“You say it will bring peace to Arvain? Peace for who, Hayden? Not the dwarfs or elves are anyone else except for those who are ruling. This will be a war that will kill thousands, and destroy millions of lives, are you willing to be a part of this?” Cassidy and Hayden were getting upset and it was causing their dragons to stir.

             
“If it turns to war we will all be a part of it, one way or another.” A voice said coming from behind them. They turned to find Sebastian had exited his room and had walked over to them. The sun was almost completely set when he had walked out, but Hayden could still see the red in Cassidy’s face. “Wars are not only fought by those who choose to, but by everyone, whether they want to or not.”

             
“No one asked you to join our conversation Sebastian; you can go back to your room,” Hayden told him plainly.

             
“I wish I could, but I keep hearing you argue out here, so I figured I would step in and end it. Cass you are right, they are discussing going on a crusade, but they have been talking about it for years and it would take much more than one little battle with a few dwarfs to finally make it happen.

             
“Now you are both right that there needs to be peace brought to our troubled lands, but Hayden, she is right about the crusade being a bad idea. It would not be a land of free people but a land of slaves.” Sebastian calmly walked over to them as he continued to speak.

             
When he had first appeared Shane and Cassidy had both seemed to feel the same way about his presence that Hayden had felt, but as he spoke Hayden could see that they liked what he was saying. Shane still hadn’t spoken and seemed to have made up his mind that Cassidy was right after all.