The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) (48 page)

             
The desert leopard was a gray and black leopard that lived in the shadow desert. Hayden had heard tales of its ferocity and how some travelers had fought one and left it for dead only to have it track them during the night and kill them.

             
Sebastian’s helmet was molded to look like the top of a desert leopard’s head, with its teeth lining the top of the visor. It had tow flaps in the front that looked like paws with giant claws that could close and latch over the person wearing its mouth. The helmet had been made of silver to match his dragon.

             
Sebastian reached out and took it, barely even looking at it. He stepped back and held the helmet under his arm.

             
“Giles; you showed great cunning and the ability to trick your opponent to your benefit. To you I give the serpent.” The next servant removed the cloth over another helmet. This one looked like a coiled snake with its head resting over the visor.

             
The serpent’s mouth was open, revealing two very real looking fangs. The helmet had the same opening flaps in the front to cover the user’s mouth, but the flaps looked like overlapping coils of the snake. This helmet was also silver as Sebastian’s had been.

             
Giles walked up to the helmet and looked at it for a while before taking it out of the servant’s hands.

             
“Shane; you fought even when your only ally had been grounded. You stayed on course and stuck to your task, never wavering under the pressure. To you I give the bull.” The servant in front of Shane pulled back his cloth and in his hands was a copper bull helmet.

             
The bull’s snout came out to make the visor while the back of the helmet and the flaps in the front looked like the muscles of on a bull’s neck. These details were lost because the viewer could not help but to gaze upon the copper horns that shot out of the helmet.

             
Shane walked forward and grabbed the helmet by one of the large copper horns and made his way back to the line of riders. That left only Hayden remaining. 

             
“Hayden, you showed leadership, loyalty and obedience for rules and moral values. You led your team and your fellow rider to victory and let everyone else claim the glory instead of taking it for yourself. To you I give the eagle.”

             
Hayden’s mouth hung open as the servant in front of him pulled off the cloth covering his helmet. Staring back at him was a silver eagle; it looked like an eagle was flying off the top of the helmet.

             
The eagles head rested just above his visor, with the beak jutting out slightly. The eagle looked to be in mid dive to catch its prey so its wings were pulled back and shot out of the sides of his helmet and angled backwards. The eagle’s talons had been carved into the metal flaps that would close over and protect Hayden’s mouth.

             
His eyes kept being pulled back to the eagle’s wings as he inspected the helmet. The wings came out of the helmet right above where his ears would sit inside. They were slightly longer than the helmet but they were detailed and did not appear to be frail.

             
Shane had to nudge him with his elbow to break his trance and make him go get his new helmet. With all four of them having their new helmets there was only one award left to give out. The four riders stepped back away from the platform as Elizabeth called out the last name.

             
“Cassidy,” she said softly. The crowd had grown quiet so that they could hear their queen speak. Everyone had seen the golden dragon and her rider in every event. She was the judge that called out every winner and settled and disputes between the judges on the ground.

             
She had been standing with Shane and Hayden as they were given their awards, now it was her turn to step up to the platform.

             
“Cassidy, throughout all the events you have been an overseer, you gave up the chance to compete in any events in order to do your duty. You behaved with honor and wisdom, like the golden riders before you.” Elizabeth pointed to herself. “You have done a great work and I shall give you a great reward.”

             
A line of servants marched onto the platform in between Cass and Elizabeth. The first servant carried a golden halberd, a giant spear with an axe head under the spear head. The weapon, just like the others that had been given out before it, was a masterpiece of its craft.

             
The servant with the halberd showed it to her, and when she nodded approvingly at it he moved to the side so the next servant could come before her.

             
The next gift to be presented to her was much smaller than the halberd, it was a golden ring. The ring was simple, with no designs on the side but on the top of the ring; there was a dragon coiled up as if it were sleeping.

             
Cass nodded at the second gift just as she had done with the first and waited for the last three servants to present their gifts.

             
The next servant carried his gift covered in cloth so she knew that it was going to be a helmet like the other riders had received.

             
“For all that you have accomplished, for keeping honesty and truth before your own desires and wishes, I give you the phoenix.” The crowd cheered when they heard this. The phoenix was a creature of legend; it had long been a symbol of wisdom.

             
The servant removed the cloth, and in her hand was a golden phoenix helmet. It had the same shape and basic design as Hayden’s had, but her helmet had a long golden tail that flowed down the back of it.

             
Wings came out of the side of the helmet, but these wings were graceful and elegant where Hayden’s eagle helmet looked much more aggressive. They had also placed two red stones in place for the phoenix’s eyes and they followed your gaze no matter where you stood.

             
Cass nodded to the servant, but had a hard time pulling her gaze away as the servant moved to the far side of the platform. Even from where she had moved to, Cass continued to look at the phoenix helmet.

             
“There are two gifts remaining for you Cassidy. One is to ease your mind while you travel the world and do our bidding for the greater good of Arvain. The other gift is something I personally wanted to give you.” Elizabeth waved her hand to signal that the next two servants should step forward.

             
The first carried a metal box in his hands. The box was no wider than the man’s chest and barley came up from his waist to his ribs, but he was covered in sweat and seemed to be struggling with the weight of the contents.

             
Another servant, the one that had Cass’s golden ring, stepped up and opened the box to reveal that it was full of gold coins; Cass was both confused and awed by it.

             
“This is enough gold for a family to live comfortable on for many years to come. To be more specific, your family.” Cass understood what she meant and tears began to well up in her eyes. Her family was not well off nor where they poor, but both her mom and dad had to work every day to take care of their household. This would ease that burden for many years to come and the thought of that brought more joy to her than she thought possible.

             
Her bottom lip quivered uncontrollably as the servant took her families fortune over with her other gifts. The last servant brought up the last gift.

             
It was a simple leather bound journal, with a leather strap that went all the way around it to keep it closed. Cass looked at the book with some confusion.

             
“I don’t understand,” she began.

             
“I was told that you liked to draw, and one of the servants that cleaned your room for you told me that you had drawings covering most of your walls. I thought that you could take this with you on your upcoming journey and draw what you see.”

             
Cass could not believe what she was hearing. This was not just a gift; this was so much more personal. Elizabeth The Gold had taken the time to learn something about her and give her something that reflected what she enjoyed doing.

             
Cass took the journal from the servant’s outstretched hands, it was the only one that she had touched. She undid the leather strap and flipped through the pages. She could smell the leather and parchment as the flipping pages created a breeze that lightly tossed her hair back.

             
For the first time since they had begun the ceremony Elizabeth stood up from her throne. Once she was at her full height the other two riders that sat on both sides of her, Caine The Silver and Bryce The Copper, stood up.

             
“Now that we have finished giving out the awards to those that have competed honorably in the Festival of Games; I have one last gift to give and it goes to all the people of Celestial City.” Cass walked back into the crowd and stood with Shane and Hayden.

             
More servants came onto the platform carrying sacks full of fruit, fruit from the Orchard of Souls. They tossed the fruit out over crowd and handed some to anyone who wanted any. The crowd loved it and Elizabeth could barely contain her pride as they cheered her name.

             
“We had neglected to hand out the fruit grown in the Orchard of Souls for some years now and for that I am deeply sorry.” She lowered her head and put her right hand over her heart as if it hurt her.

             
“But today will be a day to go down in history; not just because the Festival of Games is over, and not just because today we are reinstating an ancient tradition. Today is the day that you, the people, shall get your revenge on those that tried to destroy our orchard. Justice will be given out today!”

             
She raised her hands up over her head as she shouted the last few words. The people were screaming and cheering so loud it made Hayden’s ears ring.

             
Hayden hadn’t been paying too much attention to what she had been saying, thinking it was just the closing speech, but he quickly gave her his full attention when she spoke of the ones who had damaged the orchard.

             
Draek, I have a bad feeling about this, something is wrong.
Hayden quickly relayed what had happened so far to his dragon. Draek spoke to a few other dragons to find out what was going on. His reply did nothing to help him.

             
Hayden, I am sorry.
Hayden did not ask him what he was sorry for, Elizabeth was speaking again.

             
“A few nights ago the brave Metallic Riders finally found what they had been searching for since that faithful day when our beloved orchard was all but burned down. They found a squad of dwarf soldiers and a red rider hiding in the mountains and trying to make it back to their clan.”

             
The crowd’s cheers had gone to shouts of what should be done to the dwarfs. Things Hayden had never thought of, and was surprised to hear, come out of the mouths of the people around him.

             
“I hear you my people and I listen to your cries. Judgment will dealt here, bring forth the guilty ones.” Hayden could not help but look to the direction that dwarfs were being led in from, hoping that they had gotten the wrong ones.

             
Those hopes were smashed and broken the moment he laid eyes on the first dwarf, Bureg the Swift, the red rider.

Chapter 24

Hayden watched in horror as they marched the dwarfs up onto the platform. At first no one in audience made a sound, everyone was shocked into silence at the sight of the dwarfs. Then the sound came like rain that moved across the land and eventually washed over you. The sound of cheers, insults and demands that they be killed on the spot where the shouts that reached Hayden’s ears.

The dwarfs barely resembled the ones he had met. All their worn clothes were now ripped rags that covered nothing. Their nakedness was concealed by dried up blood and dirt that had clumped together.

They all wore wounds that had not even begun to heal; some Hayden could tell were clearly infected. All of their hands were bloody and raw, liked they had been worked down to the bone.

“NO!” Hayden screamed so loud that his throat instantly became raw. His voice was lost in the crowd and not even the people standing next to him could hear him.

Elizabeth allowed the people to rile themselves up to the point that they wanted to climb into her platform and take matters into their own hands. She raised her hands to quiet them and when that did not work her golden dragon roared so loud it shook the ground beneath their feet.

“These are the dwarfs that have destroyed most of the Orchard of Souls. They stand before us now ready to face their judgment.” She turned to face the dwarfs.