The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) (24 page)

             
“What do you think that was all about, ending our lesson like that?” Hayden asked Shane as they made their way through the corridor that would lead them to their rooms. This was one of the few ways they knew how to go without getting lost.

             
“I am not sure, but have you noticed that there are a lot fewer people around here then there are normally. Actually, I don’t think we have seen anyone since we left Estraken’s.” Shane looked behind them just to make sure that they had not passed anyone without realizing it.

             
“We haven’t seen anyone, were can they all be?” Hayden asked, knowing Shane did not have an answer to his question.

             
“They have been called away.” A voice came from around the corner that they were about to pass. The voice had startled Hayden and Shane so that they both stopped walking. They took the last few steps to the corner a found a young boy, less than half as tall as Hayden, leaning against the wall.

             
“Who are you?” Shane asked. “And how do you know that they have been called away and what does that mean?”

             
“My name is Harth; my father is Artues the silver. I was with him when the call went out; all the dragons and riders that are able to fight have left Celestial City.” Harth spoke very calmly as if this sort of thing happened all the time. Although Harth answered the questions Shane had asked him the way he did so just made new questions.

             
“What is
the call
, and where have they all gone, is there a fight about to happen, are we at war?” Hayden blurted out all his questions in one breath. Harth smiled a little kid smile and laughed but did he was not thrown off by Hayden’s questions.

             
“They call is when someone of high rank decides it’s time to do something that involves a lot of dragons. The person’s dragon then sends out what they want to happen to leaders under them and then those spread the word down to the next level of people until finally the message gets to everyone. My father’s dragon heard the call from his leader’s dragon and then he passed it on to the riders that fly under him.

             
“My father did not tell me if they were going to be fighting or if this was just a drill to see how long it would take them to be ready to fight if an enemy was attacking.”

             
Draek, is what he saying true, are there any other dragons in Celestial City?

             
He is speaking the truth, they are all gone except for a few that are to sick or to hurt to fly. Can you hurry up back to our room, I am already here.
Draek asked, Hayden was still worn out and he could feel that Draek was just as tired.

             
I am on my way, I will be there soon,
he reassured Draek.

             
“Do you know when they will be back?” Hayden asked.

             
“They will come back when they are finished doing what they need to do,” Harth replied.

             
“Harth, come inside now.” A door further down the corridor that Harth was standing in opened and a voice came from within the room. Harth turned and ran to the door with no regard for Shane or Hayden.

             
“What do you think is going on?” Shane asked Hayden as they started walking again.

             
“I have no idea, but Draek will tell me when the dragons get back, by then he will probably know everything.” Hayden knew that all the dragons talked to each other about everything, so if Draek did not have an answer to something he would just ask the other dragons.

             
“Rilora is always talking to the other dragons here. We need to hurry back though; she is starting to get restless about having me back there.” They sped up their walk until they got to their rooms. Hayden said goodbye to Shane and went in to see Draek.

             
Draek was laying flat on the floor with his wings completely extended and resting on the floor. Hayden walked over to him and sat down beside him; Draek slowly lifted his head up and opened his silver eyelids.

             
Hayden talked Draek into getting up and walking to the cleaning stalls. He wanted to give him a full cleaning because he was covered in dirt and grime that he had collected from the day’s training, but Draek was having a hard time staying awake as Hayden started cleaning. Hayden decided just to clean the dirt off and oil him so he would be comfortable through the night.

             
When Hayden had finished getting the dirt off he walked Draek back to their room and then returned by himself to the stalls to get the oil. He oiled Draek back in their rooms and Draek fell asleep halfway through it.

             
Shane knocked on the door after he had finished taking care of Rilora, Hayden was worried that they would wake up Draek, but Shane just laughed at his concern.

             
“They are so tired they could sleep through anything right now,” Shane said.

             
Shane and Hayden talked for a few minutes about all the dragons and riders leaving, thinking about different ideas that got more and more outlandish as they spoke. The entire time Draek did not even stir from his sleep while they talked.

             
“How about we go and get some supper? The dining hall isn’t far from here and if the dragons need anything they can call us and we will be right back.” As soon as Shane mentioned food Hayden’s stomach started to growl, and Shane took that as an answer.

             
They made the short trip to the dining hall, which was completely empty except for the Karons who were serving them. They ate steamed potatoes with a thick beef stew and boiled vegetables. They did not talk much while they ate, but once they were finished they decided to go back to their rooms. They sat outside Hayden’s room and watched the sun set over the high metal walls.

             
“What do you think Cass did today? She didn’t train with us or go to our lesson, I think it’s weird that they keep her away from us so much, she is a rider just like us after all.” Hayden sat down on the cold metal floor and leaned against the base of the pyramid.

             
“She isn’t like us, Hayden, you aren’t even like me. You are a silver rider and I am a copper rider. You will always be held above me no matter what, and as much as you and I are different, Cass is much more important than both of us put together. She is a rider of a gold dragon. There is a chance that you and I might one day sit on thrones, but Cass is almost guaranteed to sit on the throne and rule over Arvain.”

             
“You don’t know that she will get to do that anymore then we will.” Hayden did not like that someone could be set above him just because their dragon was a different color than his.

             
“Hayden, there are probably hundreds if not thousands of copper riders that I would have to be better than to sit on the throne. You have less competition, but you probably still have a few hundred other silver riders, but Cass has only a handful of gold riders with her. Most of them are too old to rule; the only person who could take the throne from her is sitting on the throne now. She will sit on the throne one day.”

             
Before Hayden could respond the air around them started blowing hard, Hayden’s ears popped and it sounded like thunder was rolling on top of them. Hayden thought the sky was falling on of them.

             
Hayden looked up, and through the clouds dropped hundreds of dragons with riders sitting on their backs. Hayden had never seen so many dragons; most were about normal compared to the ones he had seen, but Hayden saw a few that wingspans blotted out whole dragons.

             
Hayden watched as they started to land in the pyramid, and the larger ones continued on to the fields past the city. Hayden could not hear anything but the roars of hundreds of dragons and flapping of thousands of wings. After a few minutes of chaos the sound died down enough for them to yell at each other and be heard.

             
Shane yelled something about it being amazing, but Hayden could not be sure if he heard him right. Hayden was still amazed by the different formations that they flew in and how even though the sky was full of dragons, who’s different shades of metallic scales reflected to now deep red sun, without even coming close to colliding in mid air.

             
Hayden noticed a few dragons that seemed to be struggling to stay in the air; some even flew with their heads hanging low almost pointing at the ground far below them. Hayden knew they did not leave in that condition.

             
“It looks like this was not just for training,” Hayden yelled to Shane. Shane looked at him confused until Hayden pointed up at the wounded dragons flying in last. Shane’s eyes got wide and he nodded in agreement with Hayden.

             
“It looks like we are about to find out what happened today that could call every dragon out of Celestial City and bring some of them back wounded,” Shane shouted back to Hayden; it was now Hayden’s turn to nod.

Chapter 12

Hayden and Shane both went back into the pyramid through the large dragon entrance they had gone out of. Hayden walked over to Draek
, but he was still asleep.

             
“I guess we will have to actually go find someone who knows what’s going on,” Hayden told Shane when Draek did not wake up. They both went to the door and started heading through the corridors looking for anyone who would know what had happened.

             
It did not take long till the walkways were full of people running in different directions, all screaming something different. Hayden and Shane both tried to stop people to ask them what was going on but they kept getting pushed out of the way. They started to see glints of armor throughout the crowd as dragon riders started to enter the already crowded corridors.

             
They did not see anyone they knew and the riders were surrounded by people so they could not get anywhere near them to ask what was going on. They were pushed down an empty corridor that they decided to follow just to get away from the throngs of yelling people. They never expected to run into a familiar face.

             
“Benet, are you ok, what happened today? What’s going on?” Hayden asked. Benet had been walking through the all but abandoned corridor slowly, he was dragging his feet and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days. He was wearing his armor, except his helmet and his dragonauts. He looked up when he heard his name and gave the two young riders a slight smile.

             
“Well hello, you two, I am surprised to see you up this late. Normally the first years are passed out early after their first day of real training.” He even spoke like a man half dead. Benet was unable to keep his head up for longer than a few seconds. He stumbled a few times so Hayden and Shane both helped him back to his room, with Benet directing them through the twisting halls and flights of stairs that they had not been through yet.

             
Once there, Benet pulled a rope that was near the door and in just a few seconds a Karon appeared and Benet sent him running again to bring them food and drink. Hayden took a quick glance around and noticed two things right away; one was that Benet’s room was much nicer and much bigger than their rooms; the second was that Benet’s copper dragon was one of the giant ones even though it was a copper.

             
Hayden was overwhelmed by the smell of ash, and the heat within the room was like almost being in a fire. Hayden started to sweat the further he went in. Hayden looked at the copper goliath, but he saw no proof that he had been in battle, no wounds of any kind.

             
He was about to comment on that when he noticed on the far right wall, where Benet had his own cleaning supplies just like in their stalls, all the tools where covered in blood and gore. There had been a battle, but before Benet had done anything when they had returned, he had taken the time to clean his dragon.

             
Benet went through a door to the left of the massive room and closed the door behind him. This gave Hayden time to look at the room more closely. Hayden noticed that the walls were much smother to the touch and had decorations carved around the base and ceiling. It had two soft seats that could fit two or three people each.

             
The seats were placed so that they faced a fire place that was not lit at the moment. Benet’s cleaning wall had every tool that their stalls had, but some were much bigger and seemed to be made better. There was no bed or sleeping area so Hayden figured it was in the room that Benet had gone to. He wanted to look around some more but Benet returned before he could make it around the dragon.