The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) (5 page)

             
“That just doesn’t seem right. Has it always been this way?” Said Hayden, having finished clearing away a fire pit, walked just within talking range to look for firewood.

             
“No, not always. There used to be standards to the riders. They used to follow rules set by the three.” Fendrel took the wood that Hayden had gathered and began to set it up like a small hut, the kindling on the bottom and the tender and larger sticks on the outside. It looked like a rounded arrow head sticking up out of the ground.

             
“Well what happened to those days?” Hayden tried to clear of as many rocks and sticks off the ground that was going to be his bed that night.

             
“Well the three that sat on the thrones back then were old and wise. Now dragon riders don’t live forever, but they can live up to three hundred years, at least that’s how old the oldest rider was when he died, and they can still be killed just like anyone else. They are not immortal no matter what they claim. We all must meet the maker sooner or later. Anyway, the gold rider has always been over the other two, no one really knows why, but that’s just how it is in every historical account: the gold is always leading everyone. The gold rider back then was morally strong, wise, merciful, and just. He treated everyone equal, whether you had a silver or a copper, or even if you did not have a dragon at all. He was an amazing person. His name was Isaac the Golden.”

             
“There were a lot of riders back then who felt like they were above everyone else. They began to voice their opinions with the other riders and they grew a following. The three kept them at bay and with Isaac the Golden’s wisdom they were able to disperse the mob before anyone got hurt. Soon after that, Isaac began meeting with riders of each of the earth dragons. The other riders found out about it and questioned him. He said he was trying to unite all of Arvain, to allow everyone to try for any egg and to put all the dragons, even the five earth dragons, under one banner. He wanted everyone equal and he thought all races are equal. The other two on the thrones talked Isaac into leaving for a while with his dragon to clear his head, as they thought he was not thinking straight.”

             
“The riders who had caused the problems earlier did not want to take the chance that he might come back and make them equal to everyone. So the night that Isaac left, all the riders joined together and killed the other two while they sat on their thrones. Isaac had just taken off and was circling overhead when it happened, so he was able to escape into the wilderness. Since then, there have been a new three that rule over Arvain: Bryce the Copper, Caine the Silver, and Elizabeth the Gold.” After every few sentences, Fendrel would blow into the embers he lit, trying to get the fire started. After he finished talking, the fire was going well enough that he didn’t need to to tend to it constantly.

             
“I had no idea. How long ago did this happen?” Hayden was chewing on one of his hard pieces of bread, trying not to break a tooth as he listened to Fendrel talk.

             
“Well, almost forty years ago. It happened the same year I tried for an egg.” Fendrel did not even pretend to count how many years had passed since they came to power. He remembered that year too well and he knew exactly how long ago it had been.

             
Hayden shook his head as he heard how long ago it had happened.
Could no one stop them, could no one try to help?
  Hayden was no stranger to evil deeds going unpunished. It wasn’t but a few years prior he had watched as a family was torn out of their home because they did not pay taxes on a house and land that they owned. Everyone thought it was unfair, but no one was willing
to stop the tax collectors. He could still hear the girl’s cries in the wind as the guards did their terrible acts.

             
“Why has no one tried to stop them, why has no one done anything?”

             
“What would you do if an angry army of dragons wanted something from you? You would give it to them alive or they would kill you and then take it. People have tried to stop them and they wind up dying with traitor written atop their grave. When riders try to oppose them you just don’t see them flying around the city anymore.” Hayden sat up straight at the answer he was given and he wore a shocked expression on his face. Fendrel sighed as he saw Hayden’s disbelief.

             
“Close your mouth, boy, and wipe that stupid look off your face or it might stay there permanently.” Hayden closed his mouth and tried to look normal. “Well, I would say that’s better, but you’re still ugly, now you just don’t look dumb and ugly. This is the real world, boy. If someone wants to hurt you, they aren’t going to stop just because you asked nicely. This is the world you are going to jump into and that noble heart of yours is going to get you killed. You need to make up your mind whether or not you are going to bend with the world and become one of them, or stand strong against the waves and become something entirely different.”

             
“What would I become?” Hayden was trying to stay within the fire’s ring of light so he could see Fendrel’s face. Hayden looked around and realized it had gotten dark a lot faster than he thought it should. It scared him a little to think how lost he had gotten in his own thoughts, and while listening to Fendrel speak, he lost time and didn’t realize what was going on in the world around him.
I need to stay more focused on what’s going on or this could get me into trouble one day.
Hayden shrugged off the thought and looked back up at Fendrel, realizing he had been staring at him.

             
“Boy, if you are going to ask me questions, at least do me the kindness of listening to me when I answer you.” Hayden nodded his head in a silent apology. “Thank you. Now, you would become one of two things: one, you would probably be dead, two, if you survived, then you could possibly change the world to whatever you wanted. All through history you will find men and women who went against the world and did things how they saw fit. Not all of them were good righteous people, but they still affected Arvain in one way or another. Some doing enormous amounts of good, and others causing great amounts of chaos and evil. You never know just how everything will be affected by your actions today. You might have done something yesterday that, without even realizing it, could cause the whole world to blow up tomorrow.” Fendrel lay down just as he did the night before, using his pack as his pillow and wrapping up in his travel cloak.

             
“You don’t really think that would happen do you, you know, the whole world blowing up on account of something I did yesterday?” Hayden started to lie down also, trying to get comfortable, but feeling every little rock and stick that he had missed when he tried to clean off a space earlier.

             
“Well crazier things could happen,” Fendrel responded with a note of seriousness to his voice.

             
“Like what?” Hayden sat up on one arm, thinking he was about to hear something wild and farfetched.

             
“You could actually get a dragon egg.” Fendrel was able to sound serious while he spoke but as soon as he finished he rolled over on his side and began laughing loudly at Hayden’s expense.

             
“That’s not funny,” Hayden replied quietly as he turned and tried to fluff his pack the best he could. He laid back down, but this time with his back to Fendrel, hoping it would help drown out the laughter. It did no such thing, and for the next few minutes all Hayden could do was listen to Fendrel cackle like a child and repeat the same line over and over again. This would in turn cause another laughing fit to erupt from the old man.

             
“He he, you could actually get a dragon, good one, he he,” Fendrel spoke to himself.

             
“Shut up, it wasn’t that funny,” Hayden replied angrily and tried in vain to go to sleep.

             
                                                        ------------------

             
The following morning was spent mostly in silence. Hayden was so lost in his thoughts that he cleared the camp without realizing it. He continued to work, and when he was finished he just picked up his pack and started walking without any kind of acknowledgment to Fendrel’s existence. Fendrel sat back and watched Hayden, only moving to follow him when he started to walk off.

             
“You aren’t still mad about the joke last night, are you, boy?” Fendrel asked causally, but Hayden could hear he tried to cover a laugh as he spoke. Fendrel tried coughing after he spoke so he would not start laughing out loud.

             
“No, it’s not that, it’s just that the whole world seems a lot darker than I thought it was.” Hayden let Fendrel walk up beside him and put his arm on his shoulder.

             
“I know what you mean. It is always dirtier and darker than what we had imagined it to be. Don’t let it get you down, though. You can always help shed some light on it. Plus, don’t forget we will be at Celestial City today, so that should cheer you up a bit.” Fendrel seemed to have cheered himself up, he walked with a little hop in his step and a smile on his face.

             
Well there is that. It will be nice to not have to walk nonstop for a while. I wonder how long I will have to wait until I can try to get an egg. I can’t wait for the trials, I know I will fly right through them
thought Hayden. Hayden,
without thinking about it, started smiling also. As they continued on the road, they started running into more and more people. Most were traders with large carts full of goods. Luckily the road had widened so that they did not have to run off the road every time a cart came by. Many of the people were pleasant towards them, asking basic questions about how their trip was going.

             
At midday, Fendrel told Hayden that they were only a few hours away and that they would be in the city by dark. Hayden did not have to wait long to know that Fendrel had been telling the truth. As they came through a bend around a thick group of trees, Hayden saw a sight that made him stop mid-step and almost caused him to fall. He looked up with awe and beheld a scene that he would never forget: dragons flying in a giant V shape. They had not made it even a hundred feet in the air and Hayden could still hear their wings beating as they gained height. 

Hayden quickly counted the dragons and their riders and tried to get a good look at
each one. There was a silver in the front of the “V” formation and there were two copper dragons flying behind him on both sides. As they began to get some distance from Hayden and Fendrel, the silver dragon turned and let out a roar that Hayden felt as much as he heard.

             
Hayden knew that Fendrel was speaking to him, but he dared not turn his head away from the dragons, lest he miss a single thing. After a few seconds he noticed that the dull noise that must have been Fendrel’s voice ceased and Hayden was able to watch in silence. One of the first things he noticed was that the silver dragons were almost twice the size of the coppers. The coppers had wings that were proportionate to their body size, but the silver’s wings were like giant sails, much bigger than he thought they would need.

The silver would push up with one massive beat of its wings and then soar smoothly for a second and then push up again. The entire time
, it remained in a constant fluid movement that made it look like it was completely at ease. The coppers on the other hand, were flying like baby birds fresh out of the nest. Their wing beats were random
and their wings weren’t always flapping at the same time, so they were thrown off balance and would then have to struggle to get right side up again.

             
“They are amazing,” Hayden said to himself as much as to Fendrel.

             
“They really are.”

             
“I had no idea the silvers were so much bigger than the copper dragons. Those four were even smaller than the one I saw back in Erskine.” Hayden was still watching them as they began to just become small blots against the blue sky.

             
“Well they are still first years. They probably just had their first flight and have just started their flight training. I guess there were no silvers hatched last year, either.” Fendrel had already started walking and turned to see Hayden still squinting at the sky with his hands blocking the sun. “Well come on, we are almost there, and trust me, there are many more dragons where we are going.”

             
“You said they were only a year old? Doesn’t that mean that they are about to start the trials?” Hayden jogged to catch back up to Fendrel. When he got to him, Fendrel had his tongue slightly sticking out and was counting on his fingers silently in his head. A look of slight amusement crept onto his face. “What is it? Did they already have the trials? Are the eggs for this year already gone?” Fendrel quickly answered Hayden before Hayden could work himself into a fit.

             
“No, no nothing like that. The eggs are still there waiting on you and the trials haven’t started yet.” Hayden realized he had been holding his breath and he released it when he heard the trials hadn’t started yet. He then turned and continued to walk down the road. “They start at first light tomorrow,” Fendrel told Hayden.