The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) (33 page)

             
There are many more insignificant beasts to replace this useless one, now I will not tell you again; get on my back and let’s be off.
Hayden still looked thoughtfully at the horse, trying to find some way out of facing his fear.

             
Draek, seeing Hayden’s look and hearing his thoughts, let out an exasperated sigh and, quick as a snake, bit down on the back of the horse’s neck, killing it instantly. Hayden jumped back with surprise and let out an unmanly yelp.

             
Now are you a dragon rider or not?
Draek asked as he knelt down before Hayden, allowing him access to his leg so he could climb onto his back. Hayden walked slowly over to the dragon and made the climb up until he was sitting as comfortably as he could on Draek’s back.

             
Draek was starting to grow the spikes that would line his neck and back, but there was still the smooth spot right in the base of the neck and the top of the shoulders where Hayden could sit without fear of impaling himself.

             
“I am a dragon rider,” Hayden said in both mind and out loud.

             
Draek rumbled underneath him with satisfaction as he bent low and prepared to spring off into the sky.

             
Good, then let us be off, as rider and dragon, in search for our prey,
Draek said. This was the only warning Hayden got before Draek jumped into the ever darkening night sky. Draek, roaring his challenge to the red dragon and any others who dare face him, while Hayden was content with just yelling in a high pitched squeal at the top of his lungs.

             
The two rose above the flaming trees and chased after the red dragon and the dwarf thief.

Chapter 16

            
 
Draek took the sky, leaving behind the flaming orchard. Hayden’s mind began to freeze up as he watched the ground get further and further away. His body did not though, as Draek pushed his wings up and down and started to ride the winds up, Hayden kept his body low to Draek and turned with him just as if he was riding a horse.              

             
Hayden tried his hardest not to, but he found himself starting to enjoy flying with Draek.
Draek really had become a much better flier over the past four weeks. His wing strokes were smoother and he no longer fell and rose with the wind, but rather rode it from one current to another.

             
Draek was also flying much faster than Hayden had ever seen before, gaining quickly on the fleeting red dragon. Draek gained more height so that, even though they were far behind the red dragon, they were also above them.

             
Hayden was about to ask why Draek was doing that when he got a few images of a copper dragon telling them that a dragon who was above another dragon held all the power and could force the other dragon to land.

             
Draek was gaining on the red dragon quickly, using less effort with his massive silver wings. Hayden was no longer looking at the ground and worrying about falling off; all of his focus was placed on the rider in front of them. Draek was flying smoothly, Hayden barley felt any movements that the dragon made, while the red dragon was struggling to maintain its slower speed.

             
The red dragon’s sides heaved in an out as it tried to regain its breath, and Hayden and Draek where now close enough now that Hayden was able to make out some details about the rider and his dragon.

             
The saddle of the dragon was made out of worn out leather that was patched together. The bags that where full of the stolen fruit had identical patches that covered the holes that had been worn out from use.

             
It was hard to make out any details of the dwarf, Hayden still hadn’t gotten a good look at him but he knew he was a dwarf because of the short stature and size of his body. He also knew that it was male because of the long withered beard that came to rest on his short, thick chest.

             
Draek continued to close the distance between them and the red dragon. Hayden saw that both the rider and the dragon kept looking back at them to see how close they were. He watched as the red dragon quit trying to go faster and started to glide down the ground. They had flown much further than Hayden realized as he took in his surroundings as they began to make their decent.

             
They had left Celestial City far behind and they were now near the foothills of what Hayden assumed where the Bergelmir Mountains. Hayden had never seen anything like it before, mountains bigger than whole cities looming up to the sky. Even though he was able to see the mountains Hayden knew that they were a long way off in the distance still.

             
Draek followed the red dragon until they both landed in a small valley big enough for both dragons. Once both dragons were on the ground everyone just looked at each other. Hayden did not wish to fight, but he knew if it came to it that Draek would win.

             
Draek was much larger than his red opponent, and Hayden could tell by the way the red dragon was already breathing that it was not in as good as shape as Draek was.

             
Well, are you talking to the red dragon?
Hayden asked Draek when no moved for a few seconds.

             
I am, his name is Trohen, and his rider is Bureg the Swift. They are from one of the dwarf clans from the north.
As Draek told Hayden everything, Hayden
noticed that both the Dwarf rider and his red dragon seemed to visibly relax.

             
They have told me what is happening and I told them that we will not harm them as long as they are peaceful; they fear us and do not wish to fight us.
Draek did not flaunt the fact that he intimidated them, but he seemed to say it more out of pity.

             
“What happens now, silver rider?” The dwarf asked from his saddle.

             
Hayden was surprised to hear the dwarf speak his own tongue, but he quickly remembered Estraken telling him that after the riders united all of Arvain and put up the five towers, that all the races learned Arvainian, the language they were speaking now. The races did still learn their native tongue, but they had to be able to communicate with the metallic riders.

             
The dwarf had a heavy accent and a deep voice so that words he spoke still sounded different. Hayden was not sure what he was going to do now that he was here, but he had to give himself a few seconds to think.

             
“First let’s get off our dragons, they have flown hard and fast for us, they deserve a break. After you finish unsaddling your dragon then we will talk.” The dwarf showed no emotion on his face, which remained still like stone. But Hayden saw a glint of fear and admiration pass through his eyes.

             
The dwarf nodded once and dismounted, and then he started undoing all the straps to his dragon’s saddle. Hayden lowered himself down as well, Draek being so large now that he had to crouch down and lower his body as much as possible. Hayden had not had time to saddle Draek, so he inspected the inside of his trousers, which were now ruined from the flight.

             
Bureg the Swift is not happy about taking off the saddle. It will make his dragon more comfortable, but it will also be harder for him to flee quickly if he wanted to,
Draek told Hayden as they both waited on the dwarf to finish.

             
Good, I want to get to the bottom of what’s going on without having to worry about chasing him half way around Arvain to do it,
Hayden said mentally.

             
“Alright, silver rider, I have done what you requested even though it goes against my better judgment. What happens now? I am not going back to the metal prison you call a city,” Bureg told Hayden.

             
Hayden did not answer right away; instead he took in the pair of possible foes in front of him. These two were not the things of nightmares that he had been led to believe as a child. They would be a formidable opponent in a battle, but not the monster that ate the souls of innocent children.

             
Now that they were closer together Hayden could see that the dwarf and dragon were both more worn out and starving than he had originally thought. Hayden knew what the signs of poor and hungry were; he had been both most of his short life. The clothes that might have once fit snugly around the Bureg now hung of him loosely.

             
The dwarf stood just bellow Hayden’s chest and his arms were covered in thick red hair. His beard was long and braided with small trinkets laced in the hair. His nose was large and thick and his eyes deeply set in his head.

             
Hayden’s eyes drifted from the dwarf to the red dragon that crouched behind him. Everyone’s eyes always went quickly from the rider to the dragon that they rode. The red dragon had a few similarities to Draek but not many; the red dragon had a much shorter neck, his head almost coming straight from his shoulders. Where Draek’s head was more horse-like, thin and long, Trohen’s head was thicker and short, almost rounding in the front.

             
Draek was lengthier all around then Trohen but the red dragon was much thicker, lined with ribbons of thick bulging muscles that made him look more like a dog than a cat. Draek was just starting to get his horns in and the spikes down his back were starting to grow slowly, were Trohen had white stone-like bumps appearing around his body.

             
The biggest differences were the colors and textures of the dragons. Draek was cleaned regularly so his scales were clean and shiny, and they grew like armor, each one in perfect lines, his wings like giant silver sails captured by warm southern winds blown across the sea.

             
Trohen had a rough look about him; his scales not clean nor growing in straight. His color was not solid red but a light tan on his stomach and going through the many shades of red till it turned a deep maroon across his back. His body was lined with scars that swelled up and were discolored. Trohen’s wings were thick and looked like they were made out of gravel. Hayden observed what he could before speaking.

             
“Well what do we do about you stealing from the Orchard of Souls?” Hayden asked Bureg.

             
“I wasn’t stealing; no one ever picks the fruit from them trees. I have watched them let the fruit ripen and then start to rot on the branch, but no one ever comes and takes them. Nobody is starving in that metal place, but there are Pieces of Stone starving out here.” Bureg didn’t tell Hayden anything that he hadn’t already guessed himself; he knew that the orchard was never harvested and that the fruit just went to waste.

             
“Pieces of Stone?” Hayden repeated to Bureg.

             
“What you call dwarfs, we have always called ourselves Pieces of Stone; but then you lot decided to take over everything and call us something different.” Bureg was upset, but he stayed civil. Hayden didn’t have a weapon and Bureg had a large battle axe sitting on top of his saddle. But if a fight did break out Draek would have them both pinned before they could do anything more than shout their battle cry.

             
“I will say again, silver rider; what happens now?” Bureg was tense and he kept flexing and then relaxing his fists. Hayden knew he was expecting a fight from him.

             
Hayden was about to answer when he heard shouting coming from a small cave off to the side valley. Hayden was not surprised when five more dwarfs, each one in rags and starving, came running out with perfect looking battle axes. They were running straight at Hayden and Draek, but before Hayden could respond Draek jumped up onto his hind legs and spread his wings as far out as they would go.

             
Showing off his full size and all the rippling muscles on his body even Hayden was impressed. The dwarfs stopped their foolish charge and just looked up at the largest dragon they had ever seen up close.

             
“Stop!! Stay back!” Bureg yelled. The dwarfs looked even more confused and scared as he told them to stop. Draek dropped back down to all fours and retracted his wings. For the first time Bureg looked terrified as he faced Hayden.

             
“Please, they did not mean it, they couldn’t harm you anyway. Please don’t harm them,” Bureg begged, stepping in between Hayden and the other dwarfs.

             
“I will not hurt anyone today; I just want to figure out what is going on, that is all,” Hayden told them. Draek and Hayden were both so connected that they did not have to speak to each other, they had become like one being.

             
“Most of the clans have been broken apart since the battle where it rained blood. Four of the seven clans were coming together; as we journeyed we were attacked by your riders. They were swift, and when they had appeared in the sky above us all our riders were resting in the hills.

             
“We took to the sky to meet them, in peace or in battle, but before we could figure out their intent they attacked. Our greatest warriors were plucked from the skies instantly; our chief of chiefs, who was trying to stop the battle, was captured. We scattered in every direction when they grounded our chief. This small group is all that is left of my family and I am one of the few riders that are left alive.”

             
Hayden listened to Bureg recount what had happened to them. He had heard bits and pieces of the battle recanted from one rider or another, each one telling about some glory or another that had happened during the hectic fight. But he had not heard it from the mouth of someone who had lost the battle.

             
He wished he had been shocked to find out that the battle was started by the metallic riders, but the more he learned about the dark secrets that where no longer just confided to the Celestial City the less he liked which side he had found himself on.

             
Hayden continued speaking with Bureg about the state in which the small band of dwarfs was in. Hayden learnt of how much they suffered and how much they longed to make it back to their clan homes.

             
Hayden wanted to stay longer and find out if they could help the dwarfs in any way when Draek spoke to him.

             
The other dragons have put out the fire in the Orchard of Souls and are now wondering who did it and where we are. What do I tell them?

             
Hayden did not have an answer right away; he did not want to lie to them, but he could not tell the truth either because it would mean certain death to the dwarfs.
Tell them we are out searching for the ones who did it, we saw them fly away but we cannot find them.

             
Draek nodded his head in agreement; Hayden did not like lying, but it seemed to be the lesser of the two evils. Hayden told Bureg what Draek had said and what his response had been, the dwarf did not hide that he was pleased to hear their answer.

             
“I am glad that you did not tell them about us, we will be gone soon enough. You can forget about us because with these few sacks of fruit we will be able to survive till we reach our home land.” Bureg began saddling Trohen while the others took the sacks of fruit from Bureg and took them back into the cave they had come out of.

             
They said their goodbyes quickly and Hayden jumped onto Draek’s back and they took back to the sky, speeding back towards his home.

             
The dragons are still asking what we found,
Draek reluctantly told Hayden. Hayden could tell that Draek really did not want any bad to come to the dwarfs.

             
Tell them we will discuss it when we land, we need to focus on flying for the moment or we might crash.
As Hayden told Draek that they both knew that it was not true; Draek turned his head back to face him just to make sure that Hayden understood he could fly perfectly fine without even facing forward.

             
Hayden just smiled in response to Draek’s look and the two made good time on the way back to the orchard. Hayden was even more comfortable on Draek’s back now that they were not chasing a potential enemy and they could somewhat take their time flying. 

             
Hayden and Draek continued to share their thoughts and emotions on what had just transpired, they still were only using words when they could not correctly show what they meant. They quickly came into view of the Orchard of Souls and they were shocked to see how bad the damage was.

             
Hundreds of trees were gone, the fire had burnt away a whole so big that dozens of dragons could land comfortably at the same time. As if to reiterate that though, ten copper dragons and one silver dragon jumped into the air and came charging at them.

             
Draek quickly told them who he was, and once they could clearly see he was a silver dragon and not an imposter with painted scales, they surrounded him in mid air and escorted him back to the still smoldering landing ground that had just a few short hours before been filled with life.

             
As they landed Hayden noticed that someone had lit torches all around the clearing so that they could see where they were once it got dark. Hayden looked up at the sky and figured it wouldn’t be long till it was dark based on the position of the sun.

             
Hayden braced himself as Draek pumped his wings to land, wishing now more than ever that Draek was wearing a saddle. As soon as Draek lowered himself so that Hayden could get off they were swarmed with people. Hayden heard the same question asked over and over again.

             
“What happened here rider, what happened?” They all asked. Everyone shouted and pulled at the grey uniform that he wore. He tried to yell at them to release him, but he could not even hear himself over everyone.

             
“Enough please let me be. ENOUGH!” No one heard what he said at first but a silence quickly went over the crowd as his last shout rang out above them. Hayden looked at the group dumbly, trying to figure out what had silenced them.

             
It was as if a bonfire had been raging, but then all of a sudden all the air had been sucked out of it. No one made a sound, but they all turned and faced the center, the ones closest to the center took a step back to make a walk way through the crowd.

             
Hayden stood in stunned silence as the three people he was sure he did not want to see right now strode up to him, walking through the clearing that had clearly been made just for them. As they walked, the people filled in behind them as if they had never moved in the first place. Everyone still remained completely quiet, allowing Hayden to hear their feet shuffle on the burnt ground.

             
Hayden realized he was breathing heavily and tried to control it by breathing through his nose. He then got a good smell of what had once been filled with the smell of fruit but now smelled of burnt wood and flesh. He must be standing near where his horse had been.

             
He focused back on the three people moving in his direction, and they did not lower their gaze as they got closer to him. Elizabeth walked in the center, Bryce to her left and Caine to her right, all three were in the same style armor that they had been wearing when he had first seen them. The only real difference was that they each now carried a shield strapped to their back and sword around their waist.

             
They made their way to him, stopping just short of running into him, all three glaring into his eyes for answers that may be there. No one spoke for a few agenizing moments that seemed to stretch on like the sky. It was finally Elizabeth that spoke first.

             
“What happened here?” she asked in a strong calm voice. Hayden knew immediately that he had no choice but to answer the question as she wanted. Her look told him that she was going to get what she wanted from him.

             
Hayden told her why he had come here in the first place, trying his best to hide the fact that he was running away from Draek. During the flight back to Orchard of Souls Hayden had tried to find away to keep the existence of the dwarfs hidden from everyone.

             
Draek, however, explained to him that there was no way to explain what had happened to the orchard or why the two of them had set off in full flight if not to chase down something. Hayden agreed that they had to tell them about the dwarfs, but they both agreed that they would mislead them on their direction and on every fact about them.

             
He told them that there were three of them and that they headed off in different directions. He described them as each one being bigger and faster than Draek and that was the reason that he did not catch them. Hayden did his best to sound honest about what he was telling them but he did not want Bureg or the others to get caught.

             
Elizabeth, Bryce and Caine listened to Hayden tell about what had happened in their now ruined orchard. When he finished the three rulers stood unmoving, giving no immediate response to what they had heard.

             
Elizabeth was the first to respond; she had already suspected that someone had been stealing fruit from the Orchard of Souls. The caretaker, an old man who had only ever loved plants and nothing else, had been telling her every chance he  had that there was fruit missing from some of the bigger trees that no one had picked in years.

             
She had always pretended to take an interest in it, assuring the caretaker that she would look into and place guards around the priceless orchard. In truth she did not care about this place, she hadn’t returned since she had first planted her own tree, which was more years ago than she cared to think about.

             
Now here she was again, trudging through dirt and ash trying to answer a question she really did not care about. She would have to send riders out looking for the dwarfs, and when they found them they would have to punish them. Not because she cared, but mainly because of the citizens of her city. They would not stand for such a disgrace to go unpunished, they would ask for retribution. And Elizabeth would give them what they wanted.

             
“I want this place cleaned up and replanted by morning.” She turned around and made her way back through the crowd, which quickly moved to let her through. Bryce and Caine turned and followed suit, falling in behind her.

             
“Hayden, you have done well. Go back to the pyramid and rest; tomorrow you will have the day off, no training. By sunrise you will be our new hero.” She never turned around when she spoke. She just kept walking; leaving Hayden forced to watch her leave as he listened.

             
When she had finished speaking the crowd filled in again, blocking his view of her. Shortly after the crowd moved they split up, some running to dragons that had been on the outskirts of the clearing and others started working on various things in the clearing.

             
Everyone was so busy working and going about their own business that they ignored Hayden and Draek, who were still sitting in the center. Wondering if it was ok for them to leave or if they were still needed around; Hayden noticed someone pushing a heavy wheelbarrow and went over to help.

             
“Hayden, you need to go back to the city and rest, we have it under control here,” the person told him. Hayden looked around and saw that everyone was doing their tasks and paying him no attention.

             
I guess we are done here, Draek, you ready to head back?
he asked as he made his way to his dragon’s side. Draek leaned down to make it easier for Hayden to get on.

             
As long as we are flying, I am ready to go anywhere,
Draek responded enthusiastically. As soon as Hayden was ready to go, Draek’s body hummed with anticipation for what was about to happen.

             
Hayden took a deep breath and held it as Draek lowered himself and jumped into the air. Once Draek hit the height of his jump, at the point where gravity started to take over and pull the giant mass back down to earth, he unfurled his giant silver wings. Catching the air as he pumped his wings and began the difficult climb into the sky; Hayden liked flying well enough, but he was still uncomfortable when he had to sit through this part.

             
I wonder if a saddle would make this easier,
Hayden thought.

             
We can always try tomorrow and find out,
Draek suggested; Hayden had to admit that it did seem like a good idea to him.

             
He smiled as they took to the night sky; the sun had finished setting after they had landed. Hayden tried to look at the ground bellow, but he could only make out shapes, so he decided to lean back and stare at the night sky.

             
He had never been this close to the stars before, and he feltlike he could reach out and grab one. Before he knew what he was doing his hand was in front of him trying to grasp the brightest one in the sky
.