The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) (39 page)

             
They were in fact trying to leave, pushing through the crowd with enough force to make it through but not enough to cause someone to try to fight them, as the three dragons circled overhead and shot flames out and made their presence even more known by deafening everyone with their roars.

             
She is the golden dragon that is ridden by Elizabeth.
Hayden had already guessed that that was who had sent the call out but he still had to ask.
Are you sure I don’t need to come, I can be there quickly?

             
Hayden thought about how crowded it was and how hard it would be for Draek to land anywhere near them and decided he should leave on his own. He told Draek what he thought and Draek’s response was an image of him landing on people and everything else that might be underneath him. Hayden laughed, but insisted that he did not have to come.

             
They forced their way out of the arena as the dragons came closer and closer to landing in the center. It was obvious that being as big as they were only one could land safely, but one dragon was enough to scare the people back to behaving somewhat normally.

             
Hayden could make out the riders, wearing matching armor that he had worn, as they sat high in their saddles as they tried to make sure the crowd was getting the hint that they meant business. They each carried a giant spear in one hand and held on to the saddle with the other.

             
They decided it was time that they got away from the arena, and Fendrel suggested that they retire at his house, seeing as he could not very well go into the Metallic Pyramid with Hayden.

             
The evening games would continue on after everything calmed down, but they decided that there was no need to head back; Hayden had no interest in participating in anymore events for the night.

             
“So are you still going to leave after the Festival of Games?” Hayden had tried to wait to ask Fendrel. He did well with not blurting it out until Fendrel closed his door behind him.

             
“About time you finally asked. The only thing worse than your constant barrage of questions is when you have one sitting on the tip of your tongue. It starts to make me actually curious to know what you are about to ask and that drives me insane.” Fendrel opened up the windows to let in some light and to get a soft breeze running through the stuffy room. “And yes, to answer your question, I am still leaving as soon as the Festival is over.”

             
“I wish you would stay though,” Hayden began, but Fendrel quickly cut him off.

             
“And why is that, you will be leaving as soon as your training is over and you won’t come back for five years at the earliest. So why would I stay, what is here for me?” Hayden had not thought about that, he had quickly grown used to idea of having the older man near.

             
Even though his visits had grown few and far between the further along his training had gotten, he still had the reassurance that Fendrel was in the city if he needed him. Hayden knew he was being selfish about this but he was starting to get used to having friends, and now one of them was trying to leave him.

             
Hayden and Fendrel did not have much time to spend together because shortly after Hayden had arrived at his house Draek spoke to him.

             
I am bored, Hayden, let’s go flying together.
Draek’s voice came quickly, and it had been a while since Hayden had heard from him, so when the voice came through his mind he almost jumped out of his chair.

             
“Hah, Draek wanted something didn’t he. I could tell by the way you jumped.” Hayden felt the slight warming sensation that came from turning red when he was embarrassed. “No need to feel bad about it, boy, be happy that you have a dragon to share the empty space you call a head. What did he say anyways?” Fendrel loved talking about Draek, but Hayden always felt weird about it. If history had gone differently then Draek would be Fendrel’s dragon and chances are Hayden would have never made it here.

             
“He would like to go flying with me now, he is bored. I told him that I was with you though and that it would be rude for me to leave in the middle of a visit.” He actually hadn’t told Draek that but he was getting to it.

             
“Nonsense, it would not be rude, if Draek wants to fly then you need to go flying with him. Besides I am coming with you.” Hayden smiled as he heard the old man. He wasn’t expecting him to join him, but he had hoped that before he left he would come and watch them fly together.

             
Flying with Draek was something that Hayden had become very good at, although when he had first tried it he had nearly died from fright. Hayden did his part of flying exceptionally well, which was holding on and
not letting go.

             
Hayden did not try to argue with Fendrel. One, he liked the idea, and two, it would not have made any difference. They quickly left his house and
walked through the main gate that was by the housing district, they were just trying to get out of the city as quickly as possible.

             
Once out, Hayden asked Draek where he was and the soon he was watching his silver dragon soaring over the trees to a clearing that Hayden had picked to meet at. Draek landed with a thud and sent loose grass and fallen leaves everywhere, it was a sight that Hayden never got used to.

             
“He really is magnificent; I have never seen a dragon mature so fast and have such control. Did you see how graceful his landing was?” Fendrel wasn’t really asking questions to anyone, he just loved Draek as much as Hayden did.

             
As if just to prove a point, Rilora came screeching though the air towards them. She was flying much faster than Draek had been and instead of landing straight down like Draek had done she landed at an angle. With her still moving too fast when she hit the ground she had to run off the speed and ran right past the three of them.

             
“So what are you up to, Hayden?” Shane asked from on top of the back of Rilora.

             
“Well I was planning on doing some flying and showing Fendrel here what Draek could really do.” He pointed at his friend that Shane had not noticed during his high speed landing. Shane, hearing what the old man’s name was, quickly had Rilora lower her left shoulder so he could dismount and meet him properly.

             
“It is good to finally meet you, Fendrel, sir, we have heard so much about you.” Shane clasped Fendrel’s arm right below the elbow and shook.

             
“We?” Fendrel asked.

             
Shane pointed up into the sky and both Hayden and Fendrel followed his gaze. Hayden knew as soon as he saw her that it was Cassidy in the air riding Shaylin. They watched in silence as the two landed gracefully and Cass dismounted and made her way over to the group.

             
“About time you showed up, Hayden, I was beginning to think that you were going to ignore Draek.” She laughed at Hayden’s confused face, but before she could enlighten him on what she had done she noticed Fendrel walking slowly to Shaylin. He had a look of awe and admiration, not of fear.

             
“Hello, I am Cassidy, and this is my dragon Shaylin, and you are?” she asked politely. Fendrel was staring intently into Shaylin’s eyes and he answered her without looking at her.

             
“I am Fendrel; Hayden has told you about me apparently.” He wasn’t upset, but he was so focused on Shaylin that their conversation did not seem important. Shaylin lowered her head and allowed Fendrel to rub the sensitive skin around her eyes.

             
Cass looked to Shane and Hayden and mouthed ‘Fendrel,
the
Fendrel?’. They both nodded at her and watched how Fendrel and Shaylin reacted to each other. Gold dragons were so rare
nowadays and the only ones around anymore were old and thought too highly of themselves.

             
After Fendrel and Shaylin were finished he shooed them into the sky; claiming he had held them earth bound too long and that he wanted to see what they could do. The three riders mounted and as one took to the air, they weren’t in any kind of order as they each struggled to gain height quickly.

             
Once they had reached a suitable height, Rilora and Shaylin quickly fell in behind Draek, making a triangle in the sky. They had flown together a few times before like this but never for fun. Every time they flew together in training they had always had Draek take the lead because he was the biggest and it made it easier for the other two to keep up with his giant strokes.

             
They circled where Fendrel had been standing, they could still make him out but he was getting smaller and smaller as they continued to slowly climb higher. Hayden could see close to a hundred dragons in the air around them. None of them were close, most of them flying near the city or even further out so that they were dark moving spots in the sky.

             
When Hayden was flying he forgot about everything that was troubling his mind. Nothing could bother him while he was flying, and even though most of the dragons and their riders that were in the sky couldn’t care less about them it still made him smile to see all the dragons in the air.

             
They did a few basic turns and shallow dives to warm up, and once they felt ready to really fly Hayden looked down to make sure Fendrel was still watching, but from where Hayden was sitting it looked as if he was bored and had lost interest in them.

             
Lets give him something that he will have to watch shall we?
Draek roared his answer, making Fendrel jump and wonder what was going on up there. Draek quickly relayed his plans to the others, and before Hayden could ask what he had in mind Draek’s voice came booming in his head.

             
HOLD ON!!
Hayden had no idea what was about to happen, but he knew that while flying a dragon if the dragon yells for him to hold on, it would probably be in his best interest to do that.              

             
Draek tucked in his right wing suddenly, causing him to turn over, but while he was upside down he snapped the wing back open and turned the role into a flip and then into a dive. Hayden lost his stomach, heart and other organs back where Draek had closed his wing, but for the life of him he could not get the smile off of his face. Hayden heard the others right behind him and he knew that the other two dragons had done the same maneuver.

             
They dove right to where Fendrel was sitting, and at the last second pulled up and shot back up into the sky like arrows that had just been released from a tight bow string. Hayden only caught a glimpse of Fendrel being knocked on his back from the wind, and he barely heard him cheering as they passed over head.

             
Once they reached a high point again, and most of their speed was gone, they decided it was time to play a game of chase. The rules were simple; one person and their dragon would be it and the other two would try to avoid them, if the ones that were it touched someone then they too would be it and would have to help catch the other people until everyone was it.

             
There were no winners or losers, so everyone enjoyed playing the game. It also helped teach the dragon riders about offensive flying and evasive maneuvers if they ever found themselves in an aerial battle.

             
It didn’t take long for them to agree to play the game and it was Cass that volunteered to be the first person to be it. Usually they had someone volunteer to be it first and then the last one to be caught was the first person to be it the next game.

             
Cass quickly told them on the count of three she would start. Before she could say “one” Draek and Rilora took off leaving Cass and Shaylin hovering in the air. Draek flapped his wings one hard time and, using the momentum he had built up from the flap, he fell backwards, pushing Hayden against his back as he righted himself into the dive.

             
Shane and Rilora dove straight down the normal way, going head first and having her wings half open. This dive was the fastest ways to gain speed and that was what they would need to escape Cass and her nimble golden dragon.

             
As the wind rushed past Hayden and it became hard to take in a full breath, he heard the unmistakable roar a Shaylin preparing for the hunt; the game was on. Hayden did not have to look back to see which one of them they would go after first, they had played this game so many times before that they all knew the best tactics.

             
Draek was the largest, so when he was able to get his speed up neither of them could catch him, but he was too big to do some of the tighter turns and dives that the two smaller dragons could do. Rilora was able to go from hovering to full speed in a matter of two good strokes but she had a hard time stopping and she got mad easily and would lose her focus.