The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) (32 page)

             
The farm craft was something he had done many times before. When it was harvest time back in Erskine the farmers would recruit any young strong hands to help work the fields. The planting and nourishing part of it he had never been allowed to do but he quickly found a great sense of satisfaction when his first plant started to grow.

             
The Master Farmer had also taken them out into the surrounding areas and had shown them what they could eat and what would make them sick, or possibly kill them if they ate it. Hayden was told that if it looks colorful and beautiful in the woods than more often than not it was dangerous.

             
The last week with the Craft Masters went by in a blur, and before Hayden knew it the blacksmith he had been training with gave him a basic set of sharpening tools to keep
and sent him on his way after his last lesson. The farmer did the same, but instead of giving him something to have he took him to the largest orchard Hayden had ever seen. The trees bore different fruit, some Hayden knew and others he had never dreamed of.

             
The trees stood in perfectly straight rows, there must have been over a hundred in each row, and Hayden could not even guess how many rows there was. Near the end, where they now stood, the trees where smaller than the ones further back.

             
The farmer told Hayden and Shane that these were each planted by a rider at one time or another and they called it the Orchard of Souls. Here Shane and Hayden both dug into the ground and planted their own seeds, which would one day grow into mighty trees. The farmer said that he would take care of it, but only Hayden could remove the fruit of his own tree. No one else could touch it.

             
Hayden noticed that some trees were bare of fruit; the riders must have recently come and gotten the fruit, while others had branches laden down so heavy with fruit that they almost touched the ground.

             
The farmer told them that it was an old tradition, showing that the riders would not only protect the people but also help provide for them, each rider taking his own fruit and giving it to the people, but sadly it seemed very few riders practiced it any more. Hayden decided that he would have to return here one day and see his tree fully grown.

             
The riding lessons that they were taking turned out to be much better than Hayden thought they would be. His fear of riding Draek did not transfer over to riding a horse, and once he was in the saddle for the first time he enjoyed it so much he did not want to get off. The first month had taught them how to hold on with their legs and how to anticipate the movements of the mount beneath them by feeling their muscles flex.

             
By the end of the first month they were no longer learning about riding, because there was only so much you could learn about dragon riding from riding horses, and they began to spend hours in the saddle to condition their bodies.

             
Draek’s training changed less than theirs did, since the dragons were no longer growing as fast, Draek still being the largest of first year dragons, and even Cass’s Shaylin, the smallest, was now large enough that the saddles the dragons wore had to have rings to climb with.

             
Draek was large enough now that he could almost eat a whole dear in one bite. Hayden was told that the dragons would continue to grow for the rest of their lives, but that after the first year they grew much slower. Hayden and Draek now spent some of the riding lessons together; Hayden watching how Draek flew and Draek watching how Hayden rode.

             
After one of their riding lessons, in which Draek showed how much control he now had and just how smooth and effortless his short distance flying had become, Hayden had taken Draek to a cleaning stall.

             
Draek was too large for Hayden to do a thorough
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cleaning, Draek’s shoulder now standing too tall for Hayden to climb without Draek lying down. Hayden was using one of the wired brushes to clean a particularly itchy spot behind
Draek’s front leg when Draek broke the monotone sound of the brush going back and forth.

             
They said that the other dragons will be ready to start flying with their riders by the end of next month.
Draek was stating a fact that Hayden had already heard from Shane and Cass, but he let Draek tell him any ways.
They also said that you and I will be flying sooner than that; they say it has been a long time since a dragon has grown to my size so quickly.

             
That was something that Hayden had not heard and his pause in his scrubbing was noticed by Draek. Hayden knew that eventually he would have to fly again, but he was still living a fairytale world that he might be able to put it off indefinitely.

             
Are you ok, you don’t seem to be excited about flying anymore, not since the first time we flew?
Draek asked, concerned as much as curious.

             
Hayden decided now was not the time to talk about this, mainly because he needed more time to think of an answer. He hurried up and finished cleaning Draek, leaving more than a few spots untouched.

             
I am going for a walk; I want to see if my tree has grown any in the Orchard of Souls,
he told Draek quickly as he headed out through the dragon’s exit, not even taking the time to walk with Draek.

             
He ran to where the horse stable was and saddled the horse that had been assigned to him to ride during the lessons. He rode the horse to the orchard, like he had planned to. The orchard was a nice ride out from the city, it took him several minutes to reach it, and it took him out of sight from the ever looming metal city.

             
The Orchard of Souls was easy to find, it’s hard to hide what is probably the largest orchard in the world. As he came within view of the orchard he realized that there was no one near, no farmers or guards. But then he asked himself what would be the point in guarding it, no one needed to steal from here, plus it was getting late and the sun would be setting soon so all of the farmers had gone home for the night.

             
He rode into the orchard and jumped off the horse, bending his knees as he landed, and walked to where his tree had been planted. The ground was moist from where someone had recently watered it and Hayden could not help but smell a distinct hint of fertilizer around where his tree would grow.

             
They were taking great care of his tree, as he knew that they would be. Hayden walked down the rows of trees, enjoying the time to look at just how big some had gotten. He heard Draek in his mind asking if he was ok.

             
He did not respond with words, but instead sent him comforting feelings, and when Draek asked if he could fly out there to see him Hayden did not tell him no. Draek would still be a few minutes out before he arrived so Hayden decided to climb one of the taller trees. They had told him that he was not allowed to pick the fruit but no one ever said he wasn’t allowed to climb the tree.

             
Hayden did not struggle while climbing, being used to climbing and being in the best shape of his life he found the task easy. Once on top of the tree he looked around and surveyed the Orchard of Souls. It seemed to go on forever, the thought of there being so many dragon riders both comforted him and frightened him.

             
He was about to climb down when he noticed that some of the trees were shaking, almost a hundred rows down, and there was no wind blowing to make the trees do that.

             
Hayden decided to go see what was causing it so he jumped back on his horse and charged down the path that cut through the rows. While riding he had told Draek what he had seen and
what he was doing, Draek told him to wait till he got there but Hayden continued riding down the path.

             
He knew it was not wind because he was still a few rows down and he was still able to hear a dragon moving around and crashing about between the trees. Hayden almost laughed to himself; it must be a rider coming to pick his fruit to give to the people, he told himself.

             
He decided to slow the horse down and walk the last little bit to where the dragon must be; he wanted to see who it was that still practiced the tradition. When he got closer to source of the noise, the trees so laden down with fruit that he could not see through them, Draek’s voice was clear in his mind.

             
WAIT!
Draek yelled in Hayden’s mind, but Hayden didn’t want Draek to spoil him seeing who it was. He made it to the last row and tried to walk silently between two trees, but as he walked he tripped on a branch and crashed onto the floor in the middle of the path.

             
Hayden was even more startled when the dragon he had been spying on roared at him angrily. It startled Hayden so much that he jumped to his feet and turned to face the dragon. Instead of a metallic dragon and its rider glaring at him there was in its place a small red dragon, and Hayden could just make out a short humanoid in one of the trees with a sack filled with fruit.

             
Hayden and the dwarf both stood completely still, as if the where hunting dear and had just been spotted. Hayden first noticed that the red dragon was smaller than Draek and was probably a month or so younger than Draek by the size of the horns protruding out of its body. Hayden had never seen any dragon’s other than the three kinds that populated Celestial City so he was more interested than terrified.

             
He also noticed that both the Dwarf and the Dragon where almost unhealthy skinny; he could see the dragon’s ribs on its sides. Hayden slowly raised a hand up and went to speak, but the dwarf jumped off the tree branch and landed on the dragon’s back, right in the saddle. Hayden watched in a still stunned silence as the dwarf tied the bag of stolen fruit to the back of the saddle, where three identical bags already hung.

             
“Hey, you can’t take those!” Hayden yelled at the dragon and rider as they prepared to fly off. The red dragon bent down low and sprung up into the air, clearing the tree tops and spreading out its wings.

             
Hayden watched and had a sudden urge to flee, which he quickly turned around and did, because the red dragon opened up its jaws and blew fire down upon the Orchard of Souls. Hayden was already running but he could still feel the heat that came from the dragon.

             
When he no longer felt the heat growing he turned and dared to look at the damage. The red dragon was slowly flying off; Hayden was right about it being younger than Draek, but the trees all around him where on fire, the ones closest to where the dragon had started where already gone.

             
Hayden realized that the dragon had not blown regular fire as he saw the metallic dragons breathing, but it was more of a liquid. Hayden remembered Estraken calling it molten rock, or lava, instead of the normal flames. Hayden watched as the red dragon struggled to gain altitude in what was quickly becoming the cool night air.

             
Hayden could smell the burning leaves, trees, and even the fruit as the wind began to pick up, spreading the scent and the fire further out. Hayden realized as the wind blew and the trees seemed to catch on fire much easier. Hayden was almost pushed face down by a giant gust of wind from behind him as Draek landed.

             
What happened?
Draek asked but his head quickly rose up and pointed to where the red dragon could still be seen trying to make an escape. Hayden looked around and saw that his horse had gotten its reins caught around a branch and was trying desperately to get away from the fire.

             
Hayden focused on the memories of what had happened so that Draek could see them; it was much faster than trying to explain it with words.

             
I have told some of the other dragons about what has happened here. They are getting help for the orchard but they want us to track down the ones who have done this. They are too far out and will not make it in time,
Draek told Hayden.

             
Hayden understood the need, but he still did not wish to fly, especially over a dark forest that was now quickly filling up with fire. Hayden got the horse unstuck and was
calming it down when Draek turned swiftly to face him.

             
We must go now Hayden! Are you not a dragon rider, am I not a dragon? Leave that hairy, smelly beast and let us do what we have been trained to do.
Draek was no longer the kind hearted dragon that Hayden had known, this was a serious side, but Hayden still had excuses up his sleeve.

             
“I cannot just leave the horse here; it could die a slow painful death in the flames,” Hayden tried to protest verbally but Draek cut his off quickly.